WASHINGTON – The United States filed a complaint against BestCare Laboratories, Inc. and its founder and principal, Karim A. Maghareh, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the Justice Department announced today. The suit alleges that the defendants knowingly misrepresented the distances traveled by its lab technicians to artificially increase reimbursement from Medicare for mileage-based technician travel allowance fees.
According to the complaint, BestCare transported laboratory test specimens as air cargo from nursing home customers located in the Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, El Paso, San Antonio and Waco areas to BestCare’s laboratory close to Houston, but claimed mileage for ground travel as though its technicians personally drove the specimens one-way or round-trip between those cities and its lab in Houston. The complaint also alleges that Mr. Maghareh supervised BestCare’s day-to-day operations and directed or authorized the false billing. BestCare is a clinical laboratory founded in 2002.”
“There’s no question that health care providers are entitled to recover their reasonable costs for services they actually deliver, but we have zero patience for those who invent or inflate Medicare reimbursement claims,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Tony West. “As today demonstrates, the Justice Department will vigorously enforce the False Claims Act to protect our seniors and safeguard the Medicare trust fund.”
“Our office is dedicated to recovering tax payer dollars misappropriated from Medicare,” said Kenneth Magidson, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. “We are committed to aggressively litigating civil suits against dishonest providers to protect the seniors who depend on Medicare.”
The original lawsuit was filed by Richard Drummond under the qui tam, or whistleblower,provisions of the False Claims Act. The qui tam provisions allow private parties, called “relators,” to sue on behalf of the United States persons or companies they believe have knowingly submitted false claims for government funds. Relators are entitled to receive 15 to 25 percent of any recovery if the United States intervenes in the suit, as it has here, or 25 to 30 percent if the United States declines intervention. Defendants who violate the False Claims Act are liable for three times the government’s damages plus civil penalties.
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