On December 13, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it is filing a complaint under the False Claims Act against a chiropractor, 15 Modern Vascular office-based labs, and 5 Modern Vascular-affiliated companies owned by the chiropractor. In this action, the U.S. is intervening in qui tam lawsuits filed by whistleblowers.
The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act enable private citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the government if they know of an individual or company defrauding the government. Qui tam whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 15 and 30% of the government’s recovery, if one occurs.
The U.S. alleges “that from at least Jan. 1, 2018, through June 30, 2022, Yury Gampel and the Modern Vascular defendants offered physicians the opportunity to invest in Modern Vascular office-based labs to induce them to refer their Medicare and TRICARE patients to Modern Vascular for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease.” Additionally, Gampel allegedly “pressured vascular surgeons and interventional radiologists employed at the Modern Vascular office-based labs to increase the number of invasive surgical procedures performed by tracking procedures and setting aggressive weekly and monthly goals for such procedures.”
According to the press release, the U.S. “filed its complaint in three consolidated lawsuits pending in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona” under the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions. The U.S. intervened...
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