Durable Medical Equipment (DME) companies Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., Hill-Rom Company, Inc., Hill-Rom Services, Inc., and Advanced Respiratory Inc. (collectively, Hillrom) have agreed to pay $2.1 million to resolve allegations that the companies violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for payment to the Medicare, TRICARE, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Medicaid programs. The settlement reached this week resolves allegations that, from January 1, 2011, through December 1, 2019, Hillrom’s Direct to Consumer division sold used Clinitron, TotalCare, and VersaCare beds but billed federal healthcare programs as if they were new beds. Also included in the settlement are allegations that Hillrom sold certain hospital beds and pressure support surfaces to beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs under a miscellaneous code, which sometimes resulted in a higher price paid by the government. The third allegation involves Hillrom’s presenting claims to the federal government and its contractors that mischaracterized travel time as DME repair time in order for it to be reimbursable by federal healthcare programs. Baxter International purchased Hillrom after the allegations involved in the settlement, and the division involved in the alleged fraud is no longer operational.
