BOSTON — A national addiction treatment center chain has agreed to pay a total of $4.5 million to the state’s Medicaid program, known as MassHealth, and Medicare to resolve allegations that the company submitted false claims for urine drug tests that were medically unnecessary and were illegally performed at the company’s own laboratory. This resolution is the first civil settlement under the Massachusetts clinical laboratory anti-self-referral law, originally proposed by the AG’s Office.
The AG’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) negotiated these settlements with Total Wellness Centers, LLC, CleanSlate Centers, Inc., and CleanSlate Centers, LLC (collectively, “CleanSlate”), and the founder and former company owner Dr. Amanda Louise Wilson, to resolve lawsuits from both the AG’s Office and a whistleblower alleging violations of the False Claims Act and federal and state self-referral statutes with respect to CleanSlate’s Massachusetts patients.
“As we face a worsening opioid crisis in Massachusetts, it’s important that treatment centers follow the rules and not cut corners to increase their bottom line,” said AG Healey. “Our resolution with CleanSlate will bring millions of dollars back to the state and implement the oversight needed to protect patients and prevent these violations from happening again. We are grateful to our federal partners for their work to help bring accountability in this case, and to the whistleblower for bringing these issues to our...
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