Baltimore, Maryland – Melvin Gonzaga, M.D., his son Rommel Gonzaga, and their practice group Gonzaga Interventional Pain Management (“GIPM”) have agreed to pay the United States $980,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the federal False Claims Act by submitting false claims to the United States for urine drug tests (“UDT”) that were medically unnecessary.

The civil settlement was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon of the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Paul A. Palumbo, of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board Office of Inspector General (RRB-OIG).

“We are committed to ensuring that patients depending on government-funded insurance are not misled by doctors seeking to line their own pockets by performing medically unnecessary tests or treatments,” said United States Attorney Erek L. Barron.

“Providers who perform medically unnecessary procedures damage the trust of physician patient relationships and exploit taxpayer-funded programs,” stated Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Along with our law enforcement partners, HHS-OIG is committed to protecting the health of patients and the integrity of federal health care programs serving them.”

“We are committed to holding unscrupulous Railroad Medicare...

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