MedNet Healthcare Technologies, Inc. (MedNet), a subsidiary of BioTelemetry, Inc., paid more than $1.35 million to the United States to settle allegations that it acted and conspired to establish a fraudulent billing scheme through which it provided kickbacks to physicians and health care providers as an inducement to gain referrals for cardiac monitoring services reimbursed by Government Health Care Programs such as Medicare.
Our client was a former employee of MedNet, which operated as an Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF) providing remote cardiac monitoring services under exclusive supplier agreements with health care providers such as physicians and hospitals. He alleged that MedNet aggressively marketed to providers the financial advantage of what it called “Split Bill Medicare and Fee for Service for Private Payors” — arrangements intended to induce doctors to use MedNet’s cardiac monitoring services because it would be more profitable to the provider than using the services of a competitor of MedNet.
The government contended that MedNet acted and conspired to establish a fraudulent billing scheme through which it provided kickbacks to physicians and health care providers as an inducement to gain referrals for cardiac monitoring services reimbursed by Government Health Care Programs such as Medicare, in violation of the Medicare-Medicaid Anti-Kickback Statute. As a result, MedNet violated the federal False Claims Act when the services were charged to Medicare. This scheme enabled MedNet to gain market share from its competitors and realize greater profits.