The Brief
- Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates will pay $4.75 million to settle allegations of kickbacks and unnecessary medical testing.
- The practice allegedly received benefits from a laboratory in exchange for exclusive, unlawful patient referrals.
- The government claimed the group billed for unnecessary “special stains” ordered automatically without a pathologist’s review.
ATLANTA – Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates has agreed to pay $4.75 million to resolve allegations that it accepted kickbacks for referrals and performed medically unnecessary pathology tests, the Justice Department announced Friday.
What we know:
The settlement addresses claims that the Atlanta-based practice violated the False Claims Act by entering into an unlawful arrangement with Advanced Pathology Solutions (APS), a laboratory in Little Rock, Arkansas. Federal investigators alleged that starting in May 2017, APS provided the practice with benefits to set up and run an in-house lab. In exchange, the practice exclusively referred patients to APS for professional slide interpretations.…