A Venice medical equipment provider has agreed to pay up to $4.9 million to settle allegations that it violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.
LiveCare provides remote patient monitoring for people with Type 2 diabetes through the use of glucose monitoring supplies. Two former employees who worked in durable medical equipment for the company, including one who was also a “health coach,” brought forward allegations in 2022 that LiveCare was billing Medicare for unnecessary services and receiving kickbacks for glucose monitoring supplies, according to the complaint. The business was also accused of unlawfully paying a marketing service for referrals of Medicare beneficiaries.
The $4.9 million settlement resolves the allegations and there was no determination of liability, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.
According to the complaint, LiveCare operates a call center where some callers were instructed to “coerce elderly Medicare recipients and tell them that they need to order glucose monitoring machines and supplies, or they risk losing their Medicare coverage, even when the Medicare recipients tell the caller that they do not have diabetes."
In what authorities described as a “multi-level fraud scheme,” LiveCare would have other callers inform Medicare recipients their address was needed to mail them a new Medicare card, when in fact the...
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