A Keokuk chiropractor is being sued by the federal government, which alleges he defrauded Medicare of more than $1 million.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services alleges that Jason James of the James Healthcare & Associates clinic — along with his wife, Deanna James, the clinic’s co-owner and office manager — filed dozens of claims with Medicare for a disposable acupuncture device, which is not covered by Medicare, as if it were a surgically implanted device for which Medicare can be billed.

According to the lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, more than 180 such claims were filed by the clinic between July 2016 and September 2018.

Beginning in 2016, the lawsuit alleges, the clinic began offering an electro-acupuncture device referred to as a “P-Stim.” When used as designed, the P-Stim device is affixed behind a patient’s ear using an adhesive. The device delivers intermittent electrical pulses though a single-use, battery-powered attachment for several days until the battery runs out and the device is thrown away.

Because Medicare does not reimburse medical providers for the use of a such a device, DHHS alleges that some doctors and clinics have billed Medicare for the P-Stim device using a code number that only applies to a surgically implanted neurostimulator.

The use of an actual neurostimulator is reimbursed by Medicare at approximately $6,000 per claim, while P-Stim devices were purchased by the Keokuk...

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