GREENSBORO, N.C. — Bethany Medical Center, P.A., and its founder have agreed to pay nearly $8.9 million to resolve allegations they improperly billed government health care programs for medically unnecessary urine drug testing, Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced Tuesday.
The settlement requires Bethany Medical Center, which operates 15 locations across the Triad, and founder Lenin Peters, M.D., to pay $8,828,890 to resolve allegations that they violated state and federal False Claims Acts by knowingly billing Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE for urine drug tests that were not medically necessary, according to the attorney general’s office.
State and federal authorities allege that Peters implemented and enforced a practice requiring monthly urine drug testing for patients receiving opioid therapy, regardless of individual medical need. From Jan. 1, 2018, through July 31, 2023, Bethany allegedly billed government health care programs for urine drug tests for chronic pain patients prescribed opioids while disregarding the need for less frequent testing and failing to use test results to guide patient treatment, officials said…