Case to proceed against clinic for alleged false billing

From international law firm Arnold & Porter LLP comes a timely column that provides views on current regulatory and legislative topics that weigh on the minds of today’s physicians and health care executives.A federal court in Texas has ruled that a complaint against a eye clinic sufficiently alleged fraudulent Medicare billing for tonography tests — when only tests were performed. In particular, a whistleblower filed a case under the False Claims Act in February 2012 against Outreach Diagnostic Clinic and Outreach Eyecare, along with the owner and medical director, alleging this fraudulent scheme. As is its right under the False Claims Act, the federal government joined the case in June 2015 and alleged that Outreach submitted claims for Medicare reimbursement for tonography tests that it “never performed” for its patients. It was alleged that “[t]he Defendants never owned, possessed, or operated a tonograph or recording impression tonometer” that would make claims for tonography tests possible.