SHERMAN (CBSNewsTexas.com) — A North Texas ophthalmology group has agreed to pay over $2.9 million to settle allegations that it improperly paid kickbacks to doctors who referred patients to them for surgery.
Arlington Ophthalmology Association, PLLC - also known as Kleiman Evangelista Eye Centers (K&E) - will pay $2,902,505 to resolve civil allegations that it offered and paid kickbacks to optometrists to encourage referrals of patients for cataract surgery.
The alleged practices violate the Anti-Kickback Statute of the False Claims Act, prosecutors claim. The statute prohibits to offering, paying for, soliciting, or receiving payment for referrals of "items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federally funded programs."
It's intended to ensure that medical providers are able to make decisions without being compromised by financial incentives.
K&E routinely practiced "co-management" of cataract surgery patients with outside optometrists who referred patients to K&E. The patients would receive post-surgery care from the referring optometrists rather than the surgeon's practice.
According to federal prosecutors, aspects of this arrangement violated the Anti-Kickback Statute. They contended that K&E paid optometrists money for referring cataract patients who received certain treatments, guaranteed the automatic return of referred patients, provided referrers with free continuing education courses, rewarded top referrers with expensive...
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