Hope Cancer Institute based in Kansas City and Raj Sadasivan, MD, the owner of the cancer institute, have agreed to pay $2.9 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to Medicare, Medicaid and the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program for drugs and services that were not provided to beneficiaries, according to the Department of Justice.
In its lawsuit, the government alleged from 2007 to 2011, Dr. Sadasivan and Hope Cancer Institute submitted false claims to federal health benefit programs for the chemotherapy drugs Rituxan, Avastin and Taxotere.
Dr. Sadasivan allegedly instructed the employees of Hope Cancer Institute to bill for a predetermined amount of the cancer drugs at certain dosage levels, when lower dosages of these drugs were actually provided to beneficiaries. As a result of his instructions, Hope Cancer Institute submitted inflated claims to federal healthcare programs.
The lawsuit against Hope Cancer Institute and Dr. Sadasivan was filed by three former employees of Hope Cancer Insitute under the qui tam, or whistle-blower, provision of the FCA.
Although Dr. Sadasivan and Hope Cancer Institute agreed to this settlement, there has been no determination of liability.
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