ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
The Department of Justice announced new settlements under the False Claims Act, one of which affects Alameda, CA laboratory Singulex Inc, say Alameda County qui tam attorneys.
Singulex, along with Health Diagnostics Laboratory of Richmond, VA, agreed to pay $48.5 million to settle charges that they violated the False Claims Act. Health Diagnostics will pay the bulk of the settlement, $47 million, with Singulex paying $1.5 million, according to Alameda County qui tam attorneys. Another Alameda laboratory, Berkeley Heartlab Inc. now faces similar charges.
The labs violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying physicians in exchange for patient referrals and billing federal health care programs for medically unnecessary testing, according to the Department of Justice. The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits laboratories and other providers from offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving remuneration to induce referrals for services that federal health programs cover. The Department of Justice alleges that HDL, Singulex, and Berkeley paid physicians $10-17 per patient referral as incentive for the doctors to refer patients, and also routinely waived these patients’ co-payments and deductibles. Medically unnecessary tests were billed to Medicare and other federal programs, according to the Department of Justice.
Four whistleblowers, who were physicians and other laboratory employees, may share in the settlement under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, say Alameda County qui tam attorneys. Both Singulex Inc. and Health Diagnostics Laboratory deny any wrongdoing.
Evans Law Firm, Inc. handles false claim lawsuits and whistleblower (qui tam/False Claims Act) lawsuits, including IRS tax fraud lawsuits, (SEC) securities fraud whistleblower reward lawsuits, and whistleblower retaliation. If you have a qui tam (false claims) claim, please contact Evans Law Firm, Inc. at 415-441-8669 or via email at info@evanslaw.com.
