A Connecticut primary care medical practice and its principal member and owner have agreed to pay over $2.6 million to settle allegations made against them by the federal government and state of Connecticut that they improperly billed Medicare and Connecticut Medicaid, in addition to accepting illegal kickbacks in exchange for referrals.
The settlement resolves allegations that Feel Well Health Center of Southington, P.C. and Dr. Kevin P. Greene, M.D. fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid for patient medical visits when these visits contained no medical component and were in fact taught by a yoga instructor. To justify billing for such visits, Dr. Greene and Feel Well Health Center fabricated medical records with false diagnoses which were submitted to government payors.
The settlement also resolves allegations that Dr. Greene and Feel Well Health Center violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by accepting payments, disguised the payments as fees for “speaking engagements” and “processing and handling,” from Boston Health Diagnostics Corporation in exchange for referring his Medicare patients to the diagnostics company for clinical laboratory services. The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits any person from paying or accepting payment for the referral of any good or service reimbursed by any government healthcare program.
In addition to the $2.6 million settlement, Greene and Feel Well Health Center have entered into a billing integrity agreement with the United States Department of Health and Human Services to ensure their compliance with the billing requirements of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in the future.
