Five companies, including three pain management clinics, with the same owner had a second default judgment issued against them for participating in a multimillion dollar billing fraud scheme, the U.S. Justice Department said Sept. 2.
Four details:
1. The U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina entered a default judgement against Oaktree Medical Centre, FirstChoice Healthcare, Labsource, Pain Management Associates of the Carolinas and Pain Management Associates of North Carolina on Sept. 2 totaling $136 million.
2. This is the second judgment against businesses owned or operated by chiropractor Daniel McCollum. The first judgment, entered July 20, 2020, totaled $4.3 million and involved Mr. McCollum's drug-testing lab, ProLab, and substance abuse counseling center ProCare.
3. The May 29 U.S. complaint alleges the five businesses gave providers illegal kickbacks for referring urine drug tests to the companies. ProCare and ProLab were also accused of billing for unnecessary urine drug tests.
4. The $140 million judgments resolve a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former employees of the pain management clinics Mr. McCollum owned. The 2019 complaint filed by the U.S. government is ongoing.