Oct 26, 2015 | Coding, Billing, and Collections, Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
Recent federal Justice Department memorandum issues guidance designed to seek accountability from individuals and combat corporate misconduct
Pathologists and clinical laboratory managers who want a tougher crackdown on labs and physicians that violate anti-kickback laws welcome the news that in the past year federal courts have sentenced 13 physicians to jail terms of 12 to 63 months for accepting bribes from a discredited medical laboratory company as part of a scheme to defraud the federal Medicare program.
These criminal convictions were part of the federal case prosecuted against Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services (BLS), in Parsippany, N.J..
In addition to those 13 jail sentences, one doctor got 10 months of home confinement, two doctors got 12 months probation, and sentencing for six other physicians is pending. Prosecutors expect more defendants will be sentenced in the coming months. (more…)
Apr 15, 2013 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory Hiring & Human Resources, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology
Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services’ president takes $33 million out of his medical company during the seven years of 2006-2013
Few clinical laboratory professionals were surprised at last week’s news that another medical laboratory company and a referring physician were hit with criminal indictments for violating Medicare anti-kickback statues and other federal and state laws.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of New Jersey. Defendants in this case are Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BSL), of Parsippany, New Jersey, three of its executives, and one physician who referred medical laboratory tests to BSL.
Few laboratory professionals will be surprised at news of this case. After all, a substantial number of clinical laboratory professionals regularly see, within their service areas, examples of medical laboratory companies willing to interpret federal and state compliance laws quite aggressively and cross the line into illegal actions. What is uncommon is to have federal prosecutors build a criminal case against a lab company accused of having violated anti-kickback laws. (more…)
