Anchorage-based Alaska Neurology Center LLC and its owner, Franklin Ellenson, M.D., have agreed to pay $2 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that the medical practice knowingly submitted false billing claims to federal healthcare programs. Contemporaneous with the civil settlement, Alaska Neurology Center LLC and Dr. Ellenson agreed to a three-year Integrity Agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The settlement resolves allegations that, from March 2013 through June 2018, Alaska Neurology Center LLC engaged in multiple fraudulent billing schemes, including: (1) submitting claims with false dates of service in order to obtain reimbursement beyond program caps, (2) submitting claims for infusion services provided by an unqualified medical assistant, (3) submitting claims for physical therapy when the service provided was non-reimbursable massage therapy, (4) submitting claims using multiple, unbundled billing codes, rather than a single required billing code, to obtain overpayment for the service, (5) submitting claims with false names of performing and/or referring medical providers, and (6) re-submitting claims with false service or diagnosis information, and without consulting a medical provider, after an original claim was rejected. The allegations stem from a lawsuit filed under the whistleblower, or qui tam, provision of the False Claims Act.
