by Ben Vernia | December 16th, 2022
On December 15, the Department of Justice announced that Florida-based Ocenture LLC and its subsidiary have agreed to pay $3 million to settle whistleblowers’ allegations that they paid kickbacks in connection with genetic tests. According to DOJ’s press release:
Ocenture LLC, a privately held company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and its subsidiary, Carelumina LLC (collectively, “Ocenture”), have agreed to pay $3 million to resolve allegations that they caused the submission of false claims to Medicare by paying and receiving kickbacks in connection with genetic testing samples.
The United States alleged that Ocenture participated in a genetic testing fraud scheme with other marketers and clinical laboratories. As part of the alleged scheme, Ocenture solicited genetic testing samples from Medicare beneficiaries directly and through other marketers. Ocenture then paid physicians to falsely attest that the genetic testing was medically necessary and arranged for the laboratories to process the tests and receive reimbursement from Medicare, with a portion of that reimbursement being paid to Ocenture.
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The government announced that the whistleblowers will receive $570,000 (a 19% relators’ share).
