On December 26, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that southern California-based clinics, a laboratory and their owners agreed to pay $10 million to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by defrauding Medicare and California’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, through kickbacks and self-referrals. The case stems from a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit filed by former employees.

According to the government, Mohammad Rasekhi M.D., Sheila Busheri, Southern California Medical Center (SCMC) and R & B Medical Group Inc., doing business as Universal Diagnostic Laboratories (UDL), “knowingly submitted or caused the submission of false claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal by (a) paying kickbacks to marketers to refer Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries to SCMC clinics in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), (b) paying kickbacks to third-party clinics in the form of above-market rent payments, complimentary and discounted services to clinic staff and write-offs of balances owed by patients and clinic staff in exchange for referring Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries to UDL for laboratory tests in violation of the AKS and (c) referring Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries from SCMC clinics to UDL for laboratory tests in violation of the Stark Act prohibition against self-referrals.”

“Kickback and self-referral schemes risk impairing the judgment of healthcare providers and diminish the reliability of the care that they render,” said...

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