1. Laboratory and Owner of Lab Management Services Company to Pay $3.77 Million to Resolve Kickback and Medical Necessity Claims – “Primex Clinical Laboratories, LLC has agreed to pay $3,500,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks in exchange for laboratory referrals for patient pharmacogenetic testing. In a related settlement, Mitch Edland, the Chief Executive Officer and owner of DNA Stat, LLC, has agreed to pay $270,000 to resolve similar allegations. Both settlements were announced today by U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas.” Get the full scoop >>
2. Tennessee Chiropractor Pays More Than $1.45 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations – “In Lenoir City, Tennessee, a chiropractor has paid $1.45 million, plus interest, to resolve False Claims Act violations, announced U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and U.S. Attorney Don Cochran of the Middle District of Tennessee. The settlement also calls for a Cookeville, Tennessee, pain clinic nurse practitioner to pay $32,000 and surrender her DEA registration to settle allegations that she violated the Controlled Substances Act.” Get the full scoop >>
3. Deeper Than the Headlines: OCR’s Other Enforcement – In this week’s deeper than the headlines, we’re going to dive into the OCR’s responsibilities and other enforcement. When most of us hear about OCR enforcement we immediately think about HIPAA, and rightfully so. There’s no doubt that HIPAA has definitely been a big enforcement area for OCR, but remember that OCR stands for the “Office for Civil Rights” and they oversee other areas of enforcement as well.
One such example is compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act which require providers to ensure that persons who are deaf or hard of hearing are given equal access to health care.
Case in point is the December 2017 resolution agreement that the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) agreed to enter into with OCR, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont (DOJ) to ensure effective communication with individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Get the full scoop >>
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