Dive Brief:

• New York state formally filed a False Claims Act case against dialysis company Fresenius on Tuesday, joining a major whistleblower lawsuit against the provider.
• The suit brought by the Eastern District of New York alleges Fresenius and a subsidiary illegally nabbed hundreds of millions of dollars from the government by performing potentially thousands of medically unnecessary and invasive vascular procedures on late-stage kidney disease patients.
• In June, the Department of Justice joined the lawsuit, which was originally filed in 2014 in New York against Fresenius and its business unit, Azura Vascular Care. Eighteen other states besides New York are included in the lawsuit and could potentially join the case, though a majority have declined to intervene so far.

Dive Insight:

End-stage renal disease patients typically need surgically-created access to their vascular systems to allow adequate hemodialysis to take place. Dialysis units monitor that access and can potentially refer a patient to a vascular access facility for surgery in the event there’s a narrowing in one or more of the vessels used during hemodialysis.

The complaint alleges that for years, Azura — after being referred and treating patients with evidence of narrowing vessels — continued scheduling followup visits every two to four months indefinitely for those patients. During those followups, Azura providers allegedly performed improper angiograms, or X-rays using chemical dye, on patients,...

Read Full Story: https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/new-york-false-claims-fresenius-azura/626...