Respironics will pay roughly $34.14 million to the federal government and roughly $660,000 to various state governments based on their participation in the Medicaid program.
The
Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits the knowing and willful payment of any
remuneration to induce the referral of services or items that are paid for by a
federal healthcare program, such as Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE. Claims
submitted to these programs in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute are also
false claims under the False Claims Act.
The
United States alleged that Respironics violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and
the False Claims Act by providing free services to DME suppliers to induce them
to purchase Respironics masks that treat sleep apnea. Respironics
allegedly provided DME companies with call center services to meet their
patients’ resupply needs at no charge as long as the patients were using masks
that Respironics manufactured; otherwise, the DME companies would have to pay a
monthly fee based on the number of patients who used masks manufactured by a
competitor of Respironics.
The government alleged that the conduct began
in April 2012 and continued until November 2015. The
settlement resolves a lawsuit originally brought by Dr. Gibran Ameer, who has
worked for different DME companies, under the qui tam provisions of
the False Claims Act. The Act permits private citizens with knowledge of
fraud against the government to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the United States
and to share in any recovery. Under the civil settlement announced
today, Dr. Ameer will receive $5.38 million out of the federal share of the
recovery.
Posted by Tracy Green, Esq.
Email: tgreen@greenassoc.com
Posted by Tracy Green, Esq.
Email: tgreen@greenassoc.com
Office: 213-233-2260
.
