A Florida clinic that performed medically unnecessary tests on patients to get more money from federal heathcare programs will be allowed to participate in the same programs after an eight-year hiatus.
The Jacksonville-area Sleep Medicine Center and two of its physicians, Dr. Hubert Zachary and Dr. George Restea, submitted Medicare and Tricare claims for studies patients either didn’t need or never received.
The Department of Justice touted its increasing crackdown on healthcare fraud after reaching a settlement.
While the clinic agreed to pay $200,000, it can resume utilizing Medicare and Tricare after a voluntary eight-year exclusion. Restea will pay less than $100,000.
The Justice Department will pursue its lawsuit against two additional physicians involved with the clinic, both of whom allegedly pretended to supervise the clinic so it would be eligible to bill federal healthcare programs. Dr. John DeCerce and Dr. George Young were compensated for fabricating their work, according to the DOJ.
The government claims DeCerce signed study interpretations even when the machines supposedly performing those studies weren’t functioning. Young signed orders for patients he never even saw, DOJ said.
Healthcare fraud drains billions of dollars from federal programs annually. In 2012, federal officials opened 1,131 fraud investigations and netted more than $3 billion in settlements, according to a report released that year by the Department of Health of Human Services and the DOJ.
The Sleep Medicine lawsuit is pending in federal court. Tricare is the healthcare benefits program for U.S. military personnel and their families.
