Couple to pay $7.75 million in Medicare fraud case

A Rockaway Township couple and their Parsippany-based diagnostic-imaging companies were ordered to pay more than $7.75 million for knowingly submitting false claims to Medicare for thousands of falsified diagnostic test reports and the underlying tests, according to U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul J. Fishman.

Judge Stanley R. Chesler, sitting in Newark federal court, also found Nita K. Patel, 53, and Kirtish N. Patel, 53, liable for knowingly submitting false claims for neurological tests conducted without physician supervision.

According to a statement from Fishman's office, Chesler ordered the Patels and two companies that they owned and operated, Biosound Medical Services Inc. and Heart Solution PC, both of Parsippany, to pay the United States $5 million in damages and $2.75 million in civil monetary penalties, plus interest for a total of $7,756,865. read more »

Cardiovascular Systems clears federal false claims suit after $8m settlement

A federal court this week dismissed a False Claims Act lawsuit brought against Cardiovascular Systems (NSDQ:CSII) based on allegations from a former sales rep that the company ran kickbacks and an off-label marketing scheme to boost sales of its orbital atherectomy devices.

The $8 million settlement, 1st announced in March, includes a corporate integrity agreement and calls for the St. Paul, Minn.-based company to pay $3 million up front and the remaining $5 million in 11 quarterly installments beginning in January 2017. The company will pay a 1.8% annual interest rate on the unpaid portion of the settlement, CSI has said.

The U.S. District Court for Western North Carolina approved the settlement July 11, the company said yesterday in a securities filing. The deal, in which the company admitted no liability, does not include the legal costs for the plaintiff, which have yet to be determined. read more »

Illinois claimed its share of a $784.6 million settlement reached with drug companies Wyeth and Pfizer earlier this year

part of billions being recovered by state and local government cracking down on purported health care fraud what is less clear is how much of such alleged fraud is actually being uncovered  in Illinois and nationwide.

In May, attorneys general in 35 states, including Illinois, along with the District of Columbia, announced their shares of the large settlement. The settlement resolved allegations Wyeth didn't provide the same discounts to the government that it provides to private purchasers, despite being required to do so by Medicaid.

“This significant settlement illustrates that the government will not permit drug companies to dodge their obligations to the Medicaid program or create elaborate pricing schemes to deceive Medicaid into paying more than it should for drugs,” Carmen Milagros Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, was quoted in a press release. “This settlement, after years of hard-fought litigation, shows our commitment to ensuring that healthcare businesses do not take advantage of the federal health insurance programs which serve those who need assistance most.” read more »

Tuomey Hospital sues Nexsen Pruet law firm for $117 million alleging legal malpractice

A lawsuit alleging that legal malpractice by Nexsen Pruet law firm caused the destruction of one of the state’s most prominent locally owned hospitals, Tuomey Healthcare of Sumter, was filed Tuesday in state court in Sumter County.

The lawsuit seeks $117 million in damages for legal havoc allegedly wreaked by “misleading and reckless” advice from Columbia-headquartered Nexsen Pruet, one of the state’s largest law firms, according to legal papers.

Relying on Nexsen Pruet’s advice caused the hospital in 2013 to lose a federal whistleblower lawsuit that resulted in a jury finding that the hospital had defrauded the federal government over false Medicare and other claims and owed $237.4 million in fines and damages, the lawsuit said. read more »