False Claims Counsel

Gregory Stynowick, M.D. and his pain management practice, Pain Management Medical Center LLC, of Florissant, Missouri, and Chad Shelton, M.D., Michael Boedefeld, M.D., and their pain management practice, Pro Pain LLC, of St. Louis, have agreed to pay a total of $653,796 to resolve False Claims Act allegations that they received illegal kickbacks in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute in return for referring patients for laboratory testing. The parties also have agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigations of, and litigation against, other participants in the alleged schemes.

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The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and other federally funded healthcare programs. The Anti-Kickback Statute is intended to ensure that medical providers’ judgments are not compromised by improper financial incentives and are instead based on the best interests of their patients.

The settlements announced today resolve allegations that Drs. Stynowick, Shelton and Boedefeld, and their medical practices received kickbacks in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute in return for making referrals to laboratories in Texas, California, and Florida.

* Stynowick and Pain Management Medical Center. Dr. Stynowick and his pain management practice, Pain Management Medical Center, have agreed to pay $257,436 to resolve two allegations. First, from May 2017 to July 2018, Pain Management Medical Center allegedly received thousands of dollars in payments from a purported management service organization (MSO) named Beachwood Services LLC (Beachwood) in return for Dr. Stynowick ordering laboratory tests from Landmark Diagnostics LLC (Landmark), a clinical laboratory in Houston, Texas, and Sprint Diagnostics LLC (Sprint), a clinical laboratory in Santa Ana, California. Second, from August 2018 to January 2020, Pain Management Medical Center allegedly received thousands of dollars in payments from a purported MSO named Alari Group LLC (Alari) in return for Dr. Stynowick ordering laboratory tests from Genesis Reference Laboratories LLC (Genesis), a clinical laboratory in Orlando, Florida, and InHealth Diagnostic LLC (InHealth), a clinical laboratory in Dallas, Texas.

* Shelton, Dr. Boedefeld, and Pro Pain. Dr. Shelton, Dr. Boedefeld, and their pain management practice, Pro Pain, have agreed to pay $396,360 to resolve two allegations. First, from February 2017 to September 2018, Pro Pain allegedly received thousands of dollars in MSO payments from Beachwood in return for Dr. Shelton and Dr. Boedefeld ordering laboratory tests from Landmark and Sprint. Second, from July 2018 to October 2020, Pro Pain allegedly received thousands of dollars in MSO payments from Alari in return for Dr. Shelton and Dr. Boedefeld ordering laboratory tests from Genesis, InHealth and American Institute of Toxicology Inc. (AIT), a clinical laboratory in Denton, Texas.

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