3 hours ago
A Pawleys Island doctor has reached a settlement in a federal Medicare fraud case that was part of purported kickback scheme, according to information released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dr. Gerald Congdon of Pawleys Island – and four other doctors – agreed to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations arising from their involvement in laboratory kickback schemes.
Altogether, they are paying a total of $1,913,808.
Congdon’s portion is $400,000.
The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, TRICARE, and other federally funded health care programs.
The Anti-Kickback Statute is intended to ensure that medical providers’ judgments are not compromised by improper financial incentives and are instead based on the best interests of their patients.
The settlements announced Thursday resolve allegations that health care providers received kickbacks in return for their referrals to a laboratory in Anderson, South Carolina, and that a marketer and his marketing company received kickbacks from that South Carolina laboratory to arrange for laboratory testing referrals, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
The kickbacks allegedly resulted in the submission of false or fraudulent laboratory testing claims to Medicare and TRICARE in violation of the False Claims Act.
Congdon told local newspapers the allegations were related to him subleasing...
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