Bibi Tasleyma Sattar, D.O., and her practice, Oakmont Wellness Center, PA, (collectively, “Dr. Sattar”) have agreed to pay $210,000 to resolve False Claims Act allegations involving accepting payments for patient referrals in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as claims otherwise improperly billed to federal healthcare programs for laboratory testing. The settlement resolves allegations that Dr. Sattar conspired with others to receive remuneration disguised as “process and handling fees” in exchange for referring laboratory tests to True Health Diagnostics, LLC (“True Health”) from June 2015 to November 2017. Specifically, Dr. Sattar referred her Medicare patients to Onsite Draw Station, Inc. (“ODS”), a company owned and/or operated by Dr. Sattar’s parents, Sultan Sattar and Bibi Zabeda Sattar, to perform blood draws when Dr. Sattar ordered True Health tests for her patients. When Dr. Sattar ordered diagnostic testing from True Health, and ODS performed the blood draws, True Health paid a $25 “process and handling fee” per each patient that Dr. Sattar referred to True Health. True Health then submitted the claims to the Medicare program for payment. Dr. Sattar’s decision to order these laboratory tests was based in part on True Health’s payment of “process and handling fees” to ODS, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
