Ten additional Texas doctors and a healthcare executive have agreed to pay a total of $1,680,430 to resolve False Claims Act allegations involving illegal kickbacks in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law, and to cooperate with the Department’s investigations of and litigation against other parties. The settlements resolve allegations that ten Texas doctors violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by receiving thousands of dollars in remuneration from eight management service organizations (MSOs) in exchange for ordering laboratory tests from Rockdale Hospital d/b/a Little River Healthcare (Little River), True Health Diagnostics LLC (True Health), and/or Boston Heart Diagnostics Corporation (Boston Heart). Little River allegedly funded the remuneration to certain doctors, in the form of volume-based commissions paid to independent contractor recruiters, who used MSOs to pay numerous doctors for their referrals. The MSO payments to the doctors were allegedly disguised as investment returns but in fact were based on, and offered in exchange for, the doctors’ referrals. As part of their settlements, the ten physicians have agreed to cooperate with the Department of Justice’s investigations of and litigation against other parties involved in the alleged violations of law.
In addition, the United States announced a settlement with Brett Markowitz, the founder and CEO of Florida Rejuvenation Holdings, LLC, which operates medical practices in Tampa, Florida (collectively, the Tampa Practices). From October 18, 2016 through February 19, 2018, True Health representatives allegedly arranged for True Health to pay for each patient that physicians at the Tampa Practices referred to True Health for clinical laboratory services. True Health allegedly initially paid $25 per referral to The Blood Spot, Inc. (TBS), a company associated with and controlled in part by a True Health representative, and True Health allegedly subsequently paid $35 per referral to Express Mobile Labs, LLC (EML), a company associated with and controlled in part by Markowitz. True Health, TBS, EML, and Markowitz allegedly disguised the payments as purported processing and handling (P&H) fees. As alleged, True Health and Markowitz knew and intended that TBS and EML would pay some or all of True Health’s P&H fee payments to Markowitz, directly or indirectly, in cash or in kind. Pursuant to the alleged arrangement, True Health billed the resulting claims to Medicare and other federal healthcare programs. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Markowitz agreed to pay $185,000 and to cooperate with the Department’s investigations of and litigation against other parties.
