Internal medicine physician Charles Adams, MD, and his Ringold, Ga.-based medical practice have been ordered to pay more than $27.5 million for submitting false claims to Medicare for chelation therapy reimbursements.
From November 2008 to September 2015, Dr. Adams administered the drug edetate calcium disodium for a wide range of conditions not recognized as treatable using that drug, according to an Oct. 12 news release from the Justice Department. After Medicare would not reimburse his use of edetate calcium disodium, he falsely claimed his patients were suffering from heavy metal poisoning.
A jury in June found Dr. Adams and his practice guilty of violating the False Claims Act. Medicare reimbursed more than $1.1 million for the medically unnecessary treatments and a federal judge added penalties to the jury's verdict, bringing the total to more than $25.7 million.