Nashville, TN. April 13, 2012 – Michael Hamilton of Provost Umphrey Law Firm LLP and Patrick Barrett of Barrett Law Office, PLLC are pleased to announce that AmMed Direct, LLC, a provider of diabetic testing supplies and other durable medical equipment, has agreed to pay $18 million to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare and TennCare by billing for sales that it solicited through prohibited telephone cold calls to Medicare and TennCare beneficiaries. Moreover, it was alleged that AmMed did not timely refund money to Medicare or TennCare relating to supplies that beneficiaries had returned.
The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and is captioned U.S. ex rel. Brian McNeese v. AmMed Direct, LLC, No. 3-09- 0275. The whistleblower suit was filed in 2009 pursuant to the False Claims Act by Brian McNeese, a former AmMed employee.
The False Claims Act is a law that enables private citizens with original information of fraud against the United States to act as whistleblowers and file lawsuits on the government’s behalf. As an incentive for coming forward, whistleblowers are rewarded with a percentage of the government’s recovery.
The prosecution of this case was conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee under the direction of Assistant United States Attorney Lisa Rivera.
The whistleblower, Brian McNeese, was represented by Michael Hamilton of Provost Umphrey Law Firm’s Nashville Office and Patrick Barrett of Barrett Law Office, PLLC. Mr. Hamilton stated that “Lisa Rivera and her team did an outstanding job of investigating the allegations against AmMed and maximizing the financial recovery for the benefit of the government and taxpayers.”
For more information about the case, contact Patrick Barrett at 615 463-4000.
Additional Coverage:
U.S. Department of Justice: “Ammed Direct LLC to Pay $18 Million to United States and Tennessee to Resolve False Claims Allegations” (http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/April/12-civ-474.html)
Law360: “AmMed Pays US, Tenn. $18M To Settle Medicare Fraud Suit”
Nashville Business Journal: “AmMed agrees to pay $18 million in health care settlement” (http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2012/04/13/ammed-agrees-to-pay-18-million-in.html)