The Department of Justice announced in a press release that Reliance Medical Systems, a spinal implant distributor, its owners, and two of their distributorships have agreed to pay $1 million dollars to resolve the lawsuit against them, alleging they violated the False Claims Act by incentivizing physicians with monetary payment to use Reliance medical devices on their own patients.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said, “As today’s settlement demonstrates, we will look to the substance, not just the form, of an arrangement to determine whether the payment of remuneration constitutes an illegal kickback. The department is committed to redressing the corrupting influence of kickbacks on federal healthcare programs, regardless of how companies seek to characterize such payments.”
According to the press release, the United States filed the lawsuit against Reliance Medical Systems in 2014, and a settlement was reached after the first day of trial.
The Department of Justice ends the press release contextualizing the lawsuit: according to them, this settlement is one of a series of settlements affiliated with Reliance Medical Systems. The Civil Division has recovered over $9.25 million from owners of Reliance PODs.