UC San Diego Health has agreed to pay $2.98 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act, the Justice Department announced Jan. 11.
The settlement resolves allegations that UC San Diego Health, the academic health system of the University of California, ordered and submitted referrals for medically unnecessary genetic testing from December 2015 through October 2019.
The genetic testing was performed by CQuentia labs, which allegedly submitted false claims to Medicare for the tests, according to the Justice Department.
"Ordering unnecessary genetic tests creates a drain on vital government-funded health care programs like Medicare," U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman for the Southern District of California said in a news release. "This settlement is another example of this office's commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to hold medical providers accountable when their conduct leads to taxpayers bearing the cost of improper billing practices."