Tag: False Claims Act

NEW JERSEY BASED ENVIRONMENTAL TESTING FIRM TO PAY $2 MILLION IN FALSE CLAIMS ACT SETTLEMENT

In a press release issued yesterday, New Jersey Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that Accutest Laboratories, an environmental testing firm based in Middlesex County, will pay the State $2 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to the State and its agencies for payment. The State and its agencies contracted with Accutest to perform environmental tests and in 2013, a former-Accutest employee filed a whistleblower lawsuit claiming that the firm violated state and federal False Claims Acts by not following Environment Protection Agency requirements in the extraction and testing of certain semi-volatile organic compounds and that some laboratory technicians did not adhere to the Standard Operating Procedures or proper protocols.

This settlement is the largest non-Medicaid-related False Claims Act settlement entered into by the State since New Jersey’s False Claims Act took effect in March 2008.

NEW YORK HOME HEALTH AGENCY SETTLES FALSE CLAIMS ACT LAWSUIT FOR $35 MILLION

Last week, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (“VNS”), a not-for-profit organization providing in-home care to New York residents, agreed to pay nearly $35 million to settle claims that it defrauded Medicaid by improperly billing ineligible patients for services at its adult day care facilities.

Specifically, VNS admitted to receiving $3,800 payments for 1,740 members in its long-term care plan who were referred by social adult care centers, or used the services at those facilities, but did not qualify for the program. Investigators also claimed that the services provided were substandard. Ultimately, these members were un-enrolled in August 2013.

VNS also admitted that in 2012 and 2013, various centers in its network did not provide services that qualified as personal care services under the terms of its Medicaid contract.

As part of its settlement terms, VNS is required to credential only social adult care centers that are equipped to provide care consistent with regulatory requirements and ensure that these centers will provide the care required under its long-term care plan.