Health care provider Sutter Health, based out of Sacramento, California, has agreed to a $13 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve allegations that Sutter Health violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs for toxicology screening tests performed by outside labs that Sutter Health did not perform itself.
According to the Department of Justice, Sutter Health submitted bills to various federal health care programs for reimbursement of both qualitative and quantitative testing that was performed on toxicology specimens, despite an outside lab performing the quantitative testing on thousands of the specimens. Sutter Health nevertheless allegedly sought reimbursement for the tests performed by the outside lab.
Sutter Health agreed to pay in excess of $13 million to settle these false claims allegations. Last year, Sutter Health entered into a separate settlement agreement with the Department of Justice for $90 million regarding allegations that Sutter Health had overcharged the Medicare Advantage Program by submitting inaccurate information which lead to improperly inflated payments.
The attorneys at Chilivis Grubman represent clients of all types and sizes in connection to False Claims Act litigation and government investigations. If you need assistance with such a matter, please contact us today.