Sutter Health and Affiliates to Pay $90 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations of Mischarging the Medicare Advantage Program

DOJ

Sutter Health, a California-based health care services provider, and several affiliated entities including Sutter Bay Medical Foundation (dba Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation, and Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation) and Sutter Valley Medical Foundation (dba Sutter Gould Medical Foundation and Sutter Medical Foundation) (collectively, “Sutter Health”), have agreed to pay $90 million to resolve allegations that Sutter Health violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting inaccurate information about the health status of beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage Plans. read more »

SEC Obtains Emergency Relief, Charges Couple Who Operated $18 Million Ponzi scheme

SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it filed an emergency action and obtained a temporary restraining order and an asset freeze to stop an alleged Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Shakopee, Minnesota residents Jason Dodd Bullard and Angela Romero-Bullard and the entity they control, Bullard Enterprises LLC. The SEC also named four relief defendants in the action – entities controlled by Bullard and Romero-Bullard that received investor funds from the alleged scheme. read more »

Laboratory Owner Pleads Guilty to $73 Million Medicare Kickback Scheme

DOJ

A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday in the Southern District of Florida for his role in a $73 million conspiracy to defraud Medicare by paying kickbacks to a telemedicine company to arrange for doctors to authorize medically unnecessary genetic testing. The scheme exploited temporary amendments to telehealth restrictions enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic that were intended to ensure access to care for Medicare beneficiaries. read more »