Hoyer Law Group is proud to announce that MD Labs, Inc., along with two of its owners, will pay up to $16 million to settle allegations that MD Labs submitted false laboratory claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs.
According to the settlement agreement, MD Labs and its owners regularly billed federal health care programs for medically unnecessary urine drug testing (UDT). MD Labs performed two types of UDT: presumptive testing, a relatively inexpensive test providing quick qualitative results, and confirmatory testing, an expensive test designed to confirm quantitatively the results of presumptive UDT. MD Labs performed both types of tests at approximately the same time and then simultaneously submitted the results to health care providers. The settlement highlights that the presumptive UDT results were frequently useless and the confirmatory UDT results were typically baseless.
“MD Labs… billed Medicare and other federal health care programs for wasteful urine drug testing,” said Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell. “They diverted valuable resources away from federal health care programs for expensive testing that was unnecessary. That kind of behavior will always get our attention.”
“The American people reasonably expect our government to be good stewards of taxpayer funds, including investigating those who try to defraud taxpayer-supported public health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid,” said Phillip M. Coyne, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Hoyer Law Group partner Jesse Hoyer Estes said she was “honored to represent courageous whistleblowers who defend society against taxpayer fraud. Our firm is privileged to be a part of the return of millions of dollars to the United States Treasury to be used for consumer protection and restitution, as well as furthering a better society.”
Under the settlement, MD Labs and its owners will pay no less than $11.6 million and no more than $16 million depending on certain financial circumstances. The False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions permit Hoyer Law Group’s whistleblower client to share in this recovery.
Hoyer Law Group thanks the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice for assisting its brave whistleblower client reach a successful resolution.
Hoyer Law Group is based in Tampa, FL with offices in Washington, D.C., and Michigan. The firm specializes in False Claims Act, employment, and business litigation.
