WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – The Department of Justice announced that Dynasplint Systems Inc. will pay $10.3 million over alleged False Claims Act violations.
The Maryland-based splint supplier, along with its founder and President George Hepburn, have come to an agreement with the Department of Justice. The agreement resolves allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicaid the wrong amounts for the splints it uses to give patients in skilled nursing facilities.
“Health care companies and their principals who flout Medicare rules will be held accountable,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said. “Today’s settlement demonstrates our continuing vigilance to ensure that companies and individuals do not plunder taxpayer funded programs for their own enrichment.”
In the details of the suit, the government claimed Dynasplint mischarged Medicare for splints, and did so knowingly. To circumvent the rules, the company allegedly claimed its splint-receiving patients lived at home, when they were really staying in skilled nursing facilities.
The original lawsuit was filed under the whistle-blower provision of the False Claims Act by Meredith Deane, who was a former sales executive for Dynasplint.