Seven individuals from five states have been indicted for allegedly defrauding Medicare and Colorado Medicaid of more than $40 million, according to a Sept. 25 report from Fox affiliate KDVR.
The seven individuals were involved with a number of companies based in Colorado, including Tesis Labs and 303 Diagnostics.
The seven individuals were located in Maine, Florida, New York, California and Arizona. Four of the seven allegedly conspired to defraud Medicare and state Medicaid by paying kickbacks and bribes to supposed marketing companies for referrals for medically unnecessary genetic testing.
The referrals led to $40 million in false claims that Medicare and state Medicaid paid to the labs. All seven individuals also conspired to offer and pay illegal bribes and kickbacks for healthcare benefit programs.
The kickback recipients used call centers to target the victims of the unnecessary tests.