LOS ANGELES, February 01, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Georgia Cancer Specialists, I, P.C. (GCS), one of the largest oncology practices in the United States and an affiliate of Atlanta’s Northside Hospital, has agreed to pay $8 million dollars to the federal government to settle claims of Medicare fraud in what the federal judge presiding over the case called a "sophisticated kickback scheme."
The settlement is the final chapter of a False Claims Act lawsuit commenced in 2011 by two whistleblowers, nurse Natalie Raven and pharmacist Christy Curtis, filed in federal court in Atlanta. The case is captioned United States ex rel. Natalie Raven et al. v. Amedisys, Inc. et al., 11-cv-0994 (N.D. Ga.)
The United States Department of Justice agreed to award the whistleblowers the maximum 30% whistleblower share for reporting and remediating GCS’s fraud.
The $8 million dollar settlement resolves allegations that GCS solicited and received kickbacks for more than a decade, first from Option Care, an infusion pharmacy and medical equipment provider, and later from Amedisys, a Medicare nursing company. It was alleged that these companies maintained improper financial relationships with referring physicians at GCS.
Option Care and Amedisys paid kickbacks to GCS by providing GCS with free or below market value home health coordination services, either paying the salary of GCS nurses providing such services or furnishing their own nurses to function as dedicated home health coordinators for...
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