Jul 25, 2016 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory Instruments & Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Management & Operations
The idea that human beings could be created without biological parents sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it’s not, and the technology could be available in the not so distant future
It’s not known how many pathologists and clinical chemists were in attendance at a secret meeting that took place in Boston in May, which was organized to investigate the feasibility of building a synthetic human genome.
Nearly 150 scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and ethicists met in a closed-door session at Harvard Medical School to discuss creating a synthetic human genome. Although this meeting was secret, people took notice. The possibility of using a synthetic genome to create human beings—without biological parents—understandably caused concern among the life science communities, the New York Times reported, and the apparent secrecy fueled speculation that ignited controversy, which spread rapidly. (more…)
Jul 22, 2016 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing, Managed Care Contracts & Payer Reimbursement
Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services fraud case continues to bring more criminal convictions of physicians in a rare case of tough federal enforcement of anti-kickback laws
There’s good news for sales representatives who work for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups and regularly run up against the sales practices of shyster labs that offer inducements to that class of doctors who are open to personal enrichment by accepting different forms of kickbacks in return for lab test referrals.
The good news comes from New Jersey, where one U.S. attorney has prosecuted dozens of doctors who accepted various illegal inducements and bribes from BioDiagnostic Laboratory Services Inc. (BLS) of Parsippany, the discredited lab company that was closed in 2012 after it was indicted by Paul J. Fishman, the U.S. attorney for Newark.
The most recent conviction was announced in April, 2016, when another New Jersey physician pleaded guilty in the continuing clinical laboratory fraud case involving BLS.
Gary Safier, MD, pleaded guilty to taking bribes in excess of $350,000 over a period of seven years. He was sentenced to two years in prison and, upon release, will have to perform an additional two years of supervised release. He was also instructed to forfeit the $353,000 he received for his role in the scam. (more…)
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…)
Oct 12, 2015 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Testing
In special issue, The Dark Report explains the details of what may be the biggest case of Medicare fraud and abuse in the history of the clinical laboratory business
Many clinical laboratory executives and pathologists know about the settlement last March by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of a whistleblower case involving Health Diagnostic Laboratory and Singulex. But that settlement is just one part of this major fraud case that continues to move forward and in which federal prosecutors alleged that a group of plaintiffs defrauded the federal Medicare and Tricare program out of half a billion dollars, in just 60 months!
In a court filing last summer, federal attorneys described how the lab companies and lab executives were paid $500 million between 2010 and 2014 from lab test claims submitted to the Medicare and Tricare programs. This federal lawsuit named three medical laboratory companies and three individuals as defendants. They are: Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Singulex, Berkeley HeartLab (no longer in business), BlueWave Healthcare Consultants, Tonya Mallory, Floyd Calhoun Dent, III, and Robert Bradford Johnson. (more…)
