by bvernia | September 8th, 2009
The US Attorney’s office in Nevada announced on September 2 the civil settlement of claims that a Las Vegas pain management clinic billed Medicare for uncovered procedures:
The settlement agreement arose out of a civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court on June 8, 2009, against Dr. Odell. That complaint alleged that from January 1, 2000, through the present, the pain management center and the other settling parties presented false or fraudulent claims for reimbursement to Medicare for a procedure known as Vertebral Axial Decompression (VAX-D),which was being provided by Dr. Odell and some of the other providers to their patients as a purported treatment for back pain. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the Medicare program, had determined that the VAX-D procedure was not medically reasonable and necessary under any circumstances, and was not a covered Medicare benefit. The complaint alleged that Odell used codes for other services covered by Medicare in order to disguise the fact that he and others were providing non-covered services. Based on these false or fraudulent certifications, the United States paid reimbursements to Dr. Odell and the center which would not have been paid had they provided truthful information.
The US received $167,000. The case was handled by AUSA Roger Wenthe.
