A California diagnostic laboratory will pay $357,584 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting or causing to be submitted claims for genetic tests to Medicare without valid physician oversight. According to the contentions of the United States contained in the settlement agreement: From September 2015 to November 2015, Exceltox used the services of contractor Seth Rehfuss, of Somerset, New Jersey, who persuaded groups of senior citizens in senior housing complexes to submit to genetic testing, despite applicable Medicare rules requiring proper orders from a treating physician for such tests. Exceltox, in turn, submitted claims for payment to Medicare for Rehfuss’s genetic tests performed without valid physician oversight. Rehfuss previously pleaded guilty in Trenton federal court to a superseding information charging him with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and was sentenced in May 2019 to 50 months in prison.
