Federal Court Dismisses Whistleblowers’ Urine Drug Test False Billing Claim
Case: Whistleblowers accused a national lab company of falsely billing Medicare and Medicaid for high complexity quantitative urine drug tests under CPT code G0431 at up to $476 per test. According to the complaint, the lab falsely marketed the capabilities of its UDT machines knowing they were capable only of basic qualitative testing, billed at $20 per test. The lab denied the charges and asked the California federal court to toss the case without a trial. And that’s just what it did. Significance: The court didn’t determine that the whistleblowers’ claims were invalid, only that they weren’t specific enough. How did the lab market the machines and why was this fraudulent? How many false claims did the lab submit and how much did the government overpay as a result. So, the court gave the whistleblowers permission to revise their complaint and try again [United States v. Carolina Liquid Chemistries, Corp.].
Case: Whistleblowers accused a national lab company of falsely billing Medicare and Medicaid for high complexity quantitative urine drug tests under CPT code G0431 at up to $476 per test. According to the complaint, the lab falsely marketed the capabilities of its UDT machines knowing they were capable only of basic qualitative testing, billed at $20 per test. The lab denied the charges and asked the California federal court to toss the case without a trial. And that’s just what it did.
Significance: The court didn’t determine that the whistleblowers’ claims were invalid, only that they weren’t specific enough. How did the lab market the machines and why was this fraudulent? How many false claims did the lab submit and how much did the government overpay as a result. So, the court gave the whistleblowers permission to revise their complaint and try again [United States v. Carolina Liquid Chemistries, Corp.].
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