Clinical laboratory employees have agreed to pay their share of a $7.2 million whistleblower case over two years of lab testing for recovery centers and homeless shelters, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Kentucky.

The civil healthcare fraud case arose from a "complex patchwork of schemes" between December 2016 and September 2018, involving Medicare, Kentucky Medicaid, and TRICARE claims, according to a September 27 Department of Justice (DOJ) news release.

Implicated were the hospital Physicians' Medical Center (PMC) in New Albany, IN, its clinical laboratory that was managed by the now defunct United States Medical Scientific Indiana, Bluewater Toxicology in Mount Washington, KY, various laboratory employees from manager to sales rep, the referring physician, and others.

In total, they will pay various amounts to resolve allegations that they defrauded federal healthcare programs in connection with laboratory tests that were not medically necessary or were tainted by violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).

"Nonmedical entities only used the test results to monitor clients’ compliance with the conditions of their programs and with court orders," the DOJ said. The United States alleged that PMC submitted nearly $3 million in false claims for urine drug tests referred by these nonmedical entities that included peer-to-peer recovery centers and homeless shelters.

Two lab employees entered settlement agreements to resolve...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi8AFBVV95cUxPdlJINHBsTWRLS2ZHb3AxelRs...