A Florida-based home health care company is accused of fraudulently billing Medicare and engaging in kick-back schemes with several doctors for the purpose of increasing patient referrals, according to a recent whistleblower lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Doctor’s Choice Whistleblower Lawsuit

Corina H., the whistleblower who is also a named plaintiff, worked for Doctor’s Choice Home Care Inc. from 2009 to 2012 as a sales representative. When she left the company, Corina filed the whistle lower lawsuit, alleging that part of her job duties involved contacting doctors and asking them to participate in a kick-back scheme.

According to Corina’s lawsuit, Doctor’s Choice owners Timothy Beach and Stuart Christensen submitted false medical claims to Medicare from approximately 2010 to 2016. These false claims were purportedly part of an illegal kick-back scheme between the home health care company and three doctors. Under the scheme, the suit states, Doctor’s Choice Home Care incentivized doctors to make patient referrals by promising payments through fraudulent Medicare reimbursements. The claims reimbursements were allegedly submitted to Medicare by Doctor’s Choice for services the doctors never actually performed.

The complaint says that Beach and Christensen were well aware that kick-backs are illegal and fraudulent. Among the alleged fraudulent billing activities in the complaint was Doctor’s Choice appointing a physician as its medical director in 2010, with that physician referring more than 140 patients in a six-month period. Medicare paid some $385,000 to Doctor’s Choice for those patients, the whistleblower lawsuit states, including more than $25,000 to the referring physician. It’s alleged that much of the work the physician billed for included reviewing patient charts, signing forms and giving community lectures. Another physician is alleged to have billed Medicare for fake or exaggerated work, routinely assigning one hour of time worked for each chart he reviewed or signed.

About Anti-Kick Back Laws

The False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute both govern the behavior of doctors and referring physicians and are designed to protect the U.S. government from being fraudulently charged for good or services. Under the False Claims Act, private individual, on behalf of the federal government, may file lawsuits against companies engaging in fraud. The whistleblower receives a percentage of any recovered damages.

The Office of the Inspector General explains that violations of the False Claims Act may result in fines of up to three times the loss to the government, as well as an extra $11,000 per violation. Since each fraudulent item or service billed to Medicare is counted as a violation, the fines may add up quickly.

If you have evidence that your current or former employer has committed fraud against the government, you may be eligible to hire an experienced whistleblower attorney and file a qui tam lawsuit on behalf of the government.

Corina’s Whistleblower Lawsuit is Case No: 8:15-cv-01044-VMC-CPT,filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.