False Claim Act violations in urine drug screen billing
Compliance Monitor, October 24, 2007
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Boston Clinical Laboratories, Inc., in Newton, MA, allegedly filed false Medicaid claims and received reimbursements for improperly ordering urine drug screens. According to the government there were more than 66,000 false claims since January 2000 and many of the drug screen claims were ordered for non-medical reasons or were not prescribed by an authorized person.
State and federal regulations state that in order for laboratory services to be paid for by Medicare they must be ordered:
- by a physician or authorized prescriber
- for a medically necessary purpose
The lawsuit is part of an ongoing investigation into the billing practices of independent clinical laboratories' for urine drug screens in Massachusetts. Willow Street Medical Laboratory, in Lynn, settled allegations last month for $8.15 million and agreed to begin a new comprehensive compliance program to prevent future fraud.
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