An award of $600,000 has recently been awarded to a healthcare fraud whistleblower in a Fresno county court.

Plaintiff Tansi Casillas believes she was wrongfully terminated at a sleep medicine center because she blew the whistle on Medicare fraud.

The healthcare fraud whistleblower alleges that her position at University North Medical Specialty Center was essentially eliminated by the Central California Faculty Medical Group in retaliation for fraud complaints she made.

She also claims that her position was also eliminated in retaliation for refusing to perform medical services outside the scope of her respiratory care license.

In her whistleblower lawsuit, Casillas noted that doctors required her to have face-to-face evaluations with patients who received a treatment that keeps the airways open for people who have sleep apnea and other breathing problems, called continuous airway pressure.

Later, the medical group billed the patient and Medicare for a doctor’s visit even though they had not been seen by a physician.

The Central California Faculty Medical Group operates several offices and is a multi-specialty practice that is affiliated with UCSF – Fresno. It also operates the University North Medical Specialty Center for pulmonary and sleep medicine where Casillas, the healthcare fraud whistleblower, worked.

Casillas’ lawsuit alleges that the compliance department of the faculty medical group investigated her claims and discovered that the Medicare overbilling was “erroneous” and no fraud had occurred.

The healthcare fraud whistleblower lawsuit claims that the medical group had to reimburse Medicare for the overcharges that had resulted from overbilling.

Just recently, on October 27, the jury found that the plaintiff was in fact the victim of retaliation because she was a whistleblower and awarded her $131,200 in both economic and emotional damages.

The next day, on October 28, they awarded her an additional $500,000 in punitive damages.

A representative for the Central California Faculty Medical Group stated in an email that the medical practice did not engage in any wrongdoing.

Additionally, an attorney for the medical group argued in a motion to dismiss the case that the healthcare fraud whistleblower was let go from her job for economic reasons and that she exhibited bad behavior in interactions with coworkers.

They say that Casillas used her position in an unethical way to benefit her spouse by making referrals to a medical equipment company of which he is an employee. The medical group also claims that became upset when the physician for sleep medicine refrained from forge a doctor’s note for a Medicare audit of the equipment company.

According to the medical group, after this, the plaintiff then named herself a whistleblower.

Casillas was falsely accused of violating the company’s conflict of interest policy as part of its retaliation for being a whistleblower, she claims.