The United States has settled a civil fraud lawsuit against Lincare Inc., a large durable medical equipment (“DME”) supplier with approximately 700 locations throughout the United States. The settlement resolves claims that Lincare violated the False Claims Act by fraudulently continuing to bill federal healthcare programs for the rental of costly non-invasive ventilators (“NIVs”) when patients no longer needed or used the devices. The settlement also resolves claims that Lincare violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by waiving coinsurance payments to induce certain Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries to rent NIVs. Under the settlement, Lincare agreed to pay a total sum of $25.5 million, of which $24,228,517.96 will be paid to the United States and the remainder will be paid to various states. As part of the settlement, Lincare also made factual admissions regarding its conduct. Lincare admitted that it received reimbursement from federal healthcare programs for some NIV rental claims that did not comply with all of those programs’ billing rules and guidance. Lincare also admitted that in some instances, it continued to seek monthly payments when it was aware that patients were not using the devices.
