A Texas laboratory must pay the federal government more than $10.6 million in travel expenses for which it illegally billed the Medicare program but that didn’t incur, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled Aug. 21 (United States ex rel. Drummond v. BestCare Lab. Servs. LLC). The court granted partial judgment to the United States in a whistleblower action brought by a competitor of the defendant laboratory under the False Claims Act and the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act. Under Medicare billing provisions, the court explained, laboratories may bill the United States $1 per mile that their workers travel to collect specimens from patients. The fee covers “the transportation and personnel expenses” for a worker to travel to the patient to collect the sample and return. The amount is based on the number of miles traveled and personnel costs associated with collection. Defendant BestCare Laboratory Services LLC operates a diagnostic laboratory in Webster, Texas, a suburb of Houston, where it tests specimens, primarily from disabled and elderly patients. It took advantage of this Medicare billing provision by sending specimens from its branches in Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, to Houston for testing. BestCare’s workers…
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