Federal prosecutors said a doctor and an eye care business in Huntington have paid more than $907,000 to resolve allegations that they submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid.
The settlement was with Dr. Craig M. Morgan and Eye Consultants of Huntington Inc., according to a news release Tuesday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
From Jan. 13, 2013 through April 12, 2019, Morgan routinely administered vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitor injections into the eyes of patients to treat purported wet age-related macular degeneration (Wet-AMD) or other ophthalmological conditions for which treatment with such injections is indicated, the news release said.
Prosecutors said the injections were not medically necessary because the patients in question did not have treatable Wet-AMD or any other condition that would have warranted the invasive treatment at the time.
The news release said Morgan was identified by the Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General as one of the top outliers for billing the Medicare program across all medical specialists in West Virginia, far exceeding the average of Medicare claims submitted by his peers.
The vast majority of payments Morgan received from Medicare were for injections for purported treatment of Wet-AMD.
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