INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a $1.7 million settlement with a former Indiana physician to resolve allegations that he submitted thousands of fraudulent claims to the Indiana Medicaid program, federal officials announced.
The agreement involves Don Wagoner of Burlington, who previously operated Wagoner Medical Center LLC. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana, Wagoner filed more than 5,000 false Medicaid claims, resulting in nearly $1 million in improper payments. Court records show the fraud centered on urine drug testing performed on patients seeking opioid or pain medication prescriptions. Patients consented to provide urine samples for drug screening, which Wagoner tested using a single multiplex screening kit.
Despite conducting only one test per patient, Wagoner billed Indiana Medicaid for testing that purportedly screened patients nine or more times for as many drugs…