Redlands, Calif.-based Beaver Medical Group and an ophthalmologist at the practice, Sherif Khalil, MD, will pay $5 million to resolve false claims allegations, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Healthcare providers, including Beaver, contract with Medicare Advantage organizations to provide care for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries and report diagnoses and other information to those organizations.
The U.S. alleged that Beaver and Dr. Khalil reported invalid diagnoses unsupported by beneficiaries' medical records, which resulted in inflated Medicare payments.
The allegations were originally brought in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former Beaver employee.
The former employee will receive about $850,000 of the $5 million settlement.
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