U.S. Renal Care has agreed to pay $7.3 million to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that it overcharged the Medicare program for Epogen administered to dialysis patients at facilities operated by Dialysis Corporation of America (DCA). U.S. Renal Care acquired DCA in 2010.
Epogen, an intravenous medication used to treat anema, is packaged in vials that contain a small amount of excess medication to compensate for the amount that is left in the vial after extraction. According to the whistleblower’s allegations, DCA submitted false claims to Medicare that overstated the amount of Epogen that it was actually providing.
Pursuant to the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, the whistleblower who filed this case will receive $1,314,000 as her share of the proceeds recovered in this settlement.
For more information on this case, click here: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/May/13-civ-588.html