First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced an $8.5 million civil settlement to resolve two False Claims Act cases. The lawsuits were filed by whistleblowers Ravi Srivastava and Peter Goldman, respectively, on behalf of the United States. The defendant is MobilexUSA, also known as Trident USA Health Services, LLC (Trident). Trident provides mobile diagnostic services, including mobile x-rays, to individuals residing in skilled nursing facilities. The United States pays Trident to provide mobile x-rays to Medicare and Medicaid participants in these skilled nursing facilities. Whistleblower Srivastava had been Trident’s Chief Information Officer, and whistleblower Goldman had been a Trident regional sales manager. Based upon these whistleblowers’ allegations that Trident was engaged in a kickback scheme with skilled nursing facilities, the government investigated Trident’s pricing arrangements and its costs to provide mobile x-rays at these facilities. Based upon its investigation, the government alleges that, from approximately June 2006 through September 2019, Trident engaged in illegal “swapping” arrangements under which Trident provided mobile x-rays to skilled nursing facilities at prices below Trident’s costs to provide the services, or below fair market value, for the purpose of inducing the facilities to refer lucrative federal health program business to Trident.
