A physician and clinic owner in Seattle reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to resolve an investigation into alleged False Claims Act violations.
Frank Danger Li, MD, agreed to pay $2.9 million to settle allegations that his companies, Seattle Pain Center and Northwest Analytics, billed government payers for medically unnecessary urine drug tests.
According to the settlement agreement, a policy implemented in 2013 required each patient treated at Seattle Pain centers to have a full urine drug panel each time they saw a provider. Dr. Li's Northwest Analytics did urine testing for the clinics. The policy, which didn't meet state standards, resulted in thousands of medically unnecessary tests.
Dr. Li's seven pain clinics closed in July 2016 after Washington state officials suspended his medical license for improperly monitoring opioid prescriptions. The most recent settlement is a civil resolution and unrelated to criminal investigations or state health regulator actions.
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