Fresenius Whistleblower: Judge Orders Def. to Pay $82 million
Philadelphia, PA, May 26, 2011 – Egan Young, Attorneys-at-Law, has announced that United States District Judge William J. Haynes, Jr., awarded over $82 million to the United States government as the result of a qui tam case filed by Egan Young clients Julie Williams and Dr. John Martinez. (United States ex rel. Williams, et al. v. Renal Care Group, et al. Middle District of Tennessee CA No.: 3:09-00738).
Egan Young Managing Partner, Eric L. Young, Esquire, stated that today’s decision resulted from the Court’s imposition of treble damages and statutory penalties pursuant to the False Claim Act in the wake of an earlier judgment against the defendants which totaled more than $19 million.
The case involved fraudulent Method II billing for dialysis patients by Renal Care Group (“RCG”), RCG Supply Company (“RCGSC”) and Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc. as the successor-in-interest to RCG and RCGSC. As previously reported, the qui tam Complaint originally filed by Egan Young’s clients in 2005 alleged that RCG engaged in a multi-state scheme whereby it created a sham supply company, RCGSC, solely to take advantage of higher reimbursement rates paid for home dialysis supplies under the now defunct Medicare Method II billing program.
In upholding his earlier decision, Judge Haynes held that the defendants violated the False Claims Act by creating and operating a sham supplier of home dialysis supplies which resulted in substantial overpayments by Medicare to Renal Care Group, Inc.In doing so, Judge Haynes not only trebled the damages, but imposed statutory penalties at the maximum amount of $11,000 for each false claim submitted.
The federal investigation into RCG’s fraudulent billing practices resulted from a qui tam complaint filed by Eric L. Young, Esquire, on behalf of former RCG administrator, Julie Williams, and nephrologist, Dr. John Martinez.
The prosecution of the case was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri under the direction of Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Lay with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, under the direction of Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Rivera, and Laurie Oberembt and John Henebery from the Department of Justice.