The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a press release Tuesday that a group of 15 Texas doctors agreed to pay a sum of $2.83 million to resolve allegations that they violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law. According to the DOJ, the two laws are intended to prevent corrupt financial incentives from compromising medical providers’ judgements out of self-interest.
U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston for the Eastern District of Texas said, “These settlements should reinforce the message that the Eastern District of Texas will not tolerate health care providers who seek to enrich themselves through kickback schemes. We will continue to work with our agency partners to identify those who defraud our taxpayers and we will hold those who have engaged in the schemes responsible.”
The DOJ alleges that the fifteen doctors violated the aforementioned laws by accepting thousands of dollars in remuneration from management service organizations in exchange from ordering laboratory tests from Texas providers seeking to circumvent Medicare, Medicaid, etc.. As part of each physicians’ settlement, they have agreed to cooperate with the DOJ’s investigations and litigation against other alleged violators of the law.
