WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government has joined a lawsuit against a Florida mail order diabetic testing supply company accused of submitting false claims to Medicare and paying kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Arriva Medical LLC and its parent company Alere Inc., submitted claims to Medicare for items such as glucometers that were medically unnecessary. The company also offered "free upgrades" of glucometers to Medicare patients but since Arriva required all of its new customers to get a new meter even if they currently had a functioning meter, it falsely billed Medicare for unnecessary equipment, the DOJ said.
“We will seek to hold accountable health care providers that attempt to profit by providing illegal inducements and by billing for unnecessary items,” DOJ Civil Division assistant attorney general Jody Hunt said in a statement. “We will continue to take appropriate legal measures to protect Medicare funds and to ensure a fiscally sound program that can serve all of our senior citizens.”
“When medical equipment companies scheme to enrich themselves by unlawfully increasing the sales volume of durable medical equipment, they place our federal health care programs in jeopardy,” added U.S. attorney Donald Cochran. “The restrictions imposed by federal statutes exist to prevent improper practices, including providing unnecessary medical equipment and billing Medicare for it."
The lawsuit against Arriva was filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, according to the department.