After being indicted in 2022, True Health Diagnostics CEO Christopher Grottenthaler and others have agreed to settle the federal allegations that the company made kickback arrangements with marketers and physicians and made fraudulent claims for laboratory testing against federal payers Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE.
In a case that began in California with a whistleblower complaint, prosecutors alleged that Grottenthaler agreed to a kickback scheme in which marketers and True Health employees offered and paid doctors kickbacks disguised as management service organization distributions to boost referrals to the True Health lab. At other times, prosecutors allege that Grottenthaler arranged for True Health to pay kickbacks disguised as consulting fees, processing and handling fees, and waivers of copayments and deductibles to bring in more referrals, many of which were unnecessary lab panels. The settlement resolves these allegations after Grottenthaler pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit illegal remuneration.
The original 125-page complaint, dated 2016, describes how True Health would promise doctors that it would not charge patients copayments or deductibles, helping physicians retain patients while the lab collected insurance payments without charging the patient directly. It also alleges the defendants created a “Speakers Bureau” and advisory panels where they paid physicians in exchange for the physicians referring lab work to them and sent out some lab work to...
accused of False Claims Act violations, ruling its claims were "clearly vexatious" because the provider knowingly ordered medically unnecessary tests to support its suit. . . . Law360 is on it, so ...