In a lawsuit settled July 14, BioReference Laboratories and their parent company have agreed to pay $9.85 million in damages to victims of their alleged violations regarding false claims and failing to make the best medical decisions for their patients.
“Medical decisions by doctors should be based on what is best for each patient, not a doctor’s personal financial interest,” said U.S. Attorney, Rachael Rollins, in a Department of Justice release.
Special Agent in Charge, Philip Coyne, Department of Health and Human Services, shared his thoughts on the case.
“This settlement is a warning to laboratories that think they can boost their profits by entering improper financial arrangements with referring physicians,” Coyne said. “Working with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to crack down on such deals, which work to undermine impartial medical judgment, drive up health care costs, and corrode the public’s trust in the health care system.”
BioReference was accused of renting office spaces from physicians and paying them rent that was above fair market value in exchange for referrals from the physicians, the release stated.
“When companies violate the federal health care laws that are meant to protect patients, health care costs for hard working people increase,” Rollins said. “We will continue to find fraud and use the False Claims Act to make companies that break the law pay back the taxpayers they defrauded as well as pay a financial price for their misconduct.”
The scheme for which BioReference has admitted fault occurred between January 2013 and March 2021, according to the release.
“The integrity of federal health care programs depends on providers making decisions based on the interests of their patients,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department's Civil Division. “The Department of Justice and its agency partners are committed to enforcing laws prohibiting illegal financial arrangements that may distort health care decision-making and drive-up costs to federal health care programs and patients.”
