HOUSTON – BestCare Laboratory Services LLC, will pay $5.7 million to settle an outstanding False Claims Act judgment after the company defrauded Medicare to receive travel reimbursements, the United States Department of Justice said in a news release.
The company was based in Webster, Texas in Harris County and is no longer operating as a clinical laboratory.
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The judgment was made in 2018 and the court discovered that Karim A. Maghareh was at the forefront of how the company billed Medicare for travel allowance reimbursements that did not match the mileage the company had traveled to pick up specimens in Texas. The company would conduct these services at nursing homes.
In 2018, the DOJ asked BestCare to pay the U.S. $30.5 million, which is separate from the new settlement.
“The settlement provides for payments totaling $5.7 million and the possibility of additional annual payments for five years based on Maghareh’s future income. These payments are in addition to $789,652 that the United States has already collected since 2018. The settlement amount is based on the Department of Justice’s ability-to-pay policy,” the DOJ said.
A whistleblower filed the lawsuit in 2008 through the qui tam, or whistle-blower provisions of the False Claims Act. The qui tam makes it possible for private parties known as relators to sue U.S. individuals or companies that have submitted false documents to get government funding.
The private parties can get 15-25% of the funds the U.S. recovers in the lawsuit. In this suit, the relator will get more than $1 million.
“Health care providers that submit inflated reimbursement claims to Medicare waste funds intended to ensure access to vital medical services,” said Brian M. Boynton, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General with the DOJ. “Today’s settlement demonstrates the Department’s resolve to ensure that those who defraud the taxpayers are held accountable.”
If you have any tips about fraud, abuse, or management issues, you can call the Department of Health and Human Services at 1-800-447-8477.
“The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort among the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section; SDTX - Affirmative Civil Enforcement Section; and the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. SDTX Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Karpati and Fraud Section Senior Trial Counsel Andrew A. Steinberg handled the matter,” authorities said.