A California-based laboratory has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve allegations that it double-billed Medicare for urine drug testing.
Pacific Toxicology Laboratories admitted that between January 2020 and March 2023, it improperly billed Medicare separately for confirmatory urine drug tests, despite Medicare's bundled payment rate for opioid treatment services, which includes urine drug testing, according to a July 10 Justice Department news release.
This resulted in Medicare paying twice for urine drug testing for certain opioid use disorder patients, the release said.
The settlement includes claims brought under the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions. The whistleblower will receive about $200,000.