Njideka Udochi, MD, a family practice physician who owns Millennium Family Practice in Howard County, has agreed to pay the United States $663,094.76 to resolve allegations that she submitted false claims to the Medicare program for fraudulent neurostimulator billings, arising from the use of an auricular stimulation (“P-Stim”) device. “Taping a device with adhesive is clearly not the same as surgical implantation,” said Acting United States Attorney Jonathan Lenzner. “Falsely billing the government for a procedure that reimburses at a high rate for such a simple procedure that is not reimbursed at all diverts valuable government resources and undermines confidence in our healthcare system. This settlement will restore funds that should not have been reimbursed and should serve as a bold reminder that improper billing will not be tolerated. I commend our partners at CMS’s Center for Program Integrity and HHS-OIG for identifying and eliminating this kind of waste and abuse in our federal healthcare programs.”
