Her Majesty's Government is colluding with known criminals - or perhaps one should merely say negotiating therewith. It is entirely likely that some of aforesaid negotiators will be retiring in the next few years, leaving with their golden handshakes to be greeted at Fresenius with their well deserved golden hellos. It is certainly SOP [ standard operating procedure ] in the civil service and politics in these days of growing corruption. One accepts that their payment of $379 million in fines was the result of misunderstandings rather than criminal intent and that they will try not to get caught again. The Taxpayers Against Fraud tells us more at #Fresenius Medical Care Fraud. Buying off the government with a #$486 million bung hurts the share holders but, importantly keeps the perpetrators out of prison. Later there was another #$82 million, which means they know they can keep getting away with it.
Fresenius Medical Care Fraud
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Fresenius Medical Care:
On May 26, 2011,, Fresenius Medical Care (along with the Renal Care Group and Renal Care Group Supply Company) agreed to pay more than $82 million to settle allegations of recklessly disregarded federal law when billing Medicare for home dialysis supplies and equipment during 1999-2005.The complaint alleged the renal care providers engaged in a multi-state scheme whereby it created a sham supply company, solely to take advantage of higher reimbursement rates paid for home dialysis supplies under the now defunct Medicare Method II billing program.
Fresenius Medical Care and its subsidiaries have settled numerous False Claims Act cases since 2000.
In May 2002, Fresenius Medical Care North America had paid over $1.6 million to settle allegations that National Medical Care, Inc. (NMC) billed government health programs for a drug that had been provided free of charge for use in clinical trials. According to the complaint, NMC billed Medicare, Tricare, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and Medicaid for the free drugs used in the experimental study, which lasted from 1993 to 1996. Fresenius Medical Care North America was created in 1996 and acquired NMC as part of a corporate reorganization between W.R. Grace and Fresenius AG. John Hamel, a former NMC employee, brought this qui tam action in 1999, he received a $282,017 share of the recovery.
On January, 20, 2000,, Fresenius Medical Care of North America, agreed to pay the United States $486 million to resolve a sweeping investigation of health care fraud at National Medical Care, Inc. (NMC), a kidney dialysis subsidiary owned by Fresenius. $385,000,000 was recovered under the False Claims Act. Three NMC subsidiaries also pled guilty to three separate conspiracies and were levied fines of $101 million. Fresenius also entered into a corporate integrity agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Fresenius/NMC case involved fraudulent and fictitious blood testing claims by LifeChem, Inc., NMC's clinical blood testing laboratory, kickbacks to dialysis facilities to obtain blood-testing contracts for LifeChem, and fraudulent claims submitted to Medicare for intradialytic parenteral nutrition (IDPN), a nutritional therapy provided to patients during their dialysis treatments.
DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc.:On May 5, 2015,, DaVita agreed to pay $495 million to settle allegations of fraudulent billings to Medicare and Medicaid. According to the complaint, DaVita was literally throwing good medicine down the drain in order to increase billings to Medicare and Medicaid. Former DaVita employees Dr. Alon Vainer and Daniel Barbir filed the whistleblower complaint seven years ago. The Department of Justice initially investigated the whistleblower claims, but in 2009 decided not to join the case.
This is the largest False Claims Act settlement for an un-joined case. The whistleblower share of the recovery has yet to be decided. They could receive as much as 30% of the settlement.
Other DaVita False Claims Act settlements include:
On October 22, 2014, DaVita agreed to pay $400 million to settle civil charges involving kickbacks to doctors. According to the complaint, kickbacks took the form of sales in existing DaVita dialysis centers for less than fair-market value, purchase of shares in dialysis centers owned by physicians for more than fair-market value, giving physicians kickbacks masked as profits from joint ventures, and paying physicians to refrain from building competing dialysis centers.TThis is the largest settlement that covers solely allegations of kickbacks in the healthcare industry. David Barbetta, a former DaVita employee in the mergers and acquisitions department, filed the qui tam suit in 2009.
In July 2012, DaVita paid $55 million to settle allegations it fraudulently billed the federal government for free supplies of Amgen Inc.’s anemia drug Epogen. Filed in 2002 by former Amgen employee Ivey Woodard, the complaint claims DaVita was administering overfill — an extra quantity of a drug in each vial, required by law to ensure full doses are given — of Epogen to patients and fraudulently seeking reimbursement from Medicare for the overfill. Woodard also alleged that DaVita administered medically unnecessary levels of Epogen to patients and submitted false cost reports to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Woodard receive approximately $14 million share of the recovery.
Dialysis giant under multi-million HSE contract topped US ...