Gregory Scimeca, MD, and Burlington County Eye Physicians, agreed to pay $469,232 to resolve federal allegations of false claims submissions and receiving kickbacks.
Dr. Scimeca is the owner of the practice, which operates in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The allegations claim that they submitted false claims for medically unnecessary transcranial doppler tests, according to a July 29 Justice Department news release.
BCEP and Dr. Scimeca submitted the claims to Medicare and the Federal Employee Health Benefit program from May 13, 2019 through Feb. 22, 2021.
In addition, BCEP contracted with a medical diagnosis company to perform the tests on patients. The practice paid the diagnostic company $30 to interpret each test. Dr. Scimeca and other physicians also billed Medicare and the FEHB program for the interpretations.
The DOJ alleged that the TCD tests were medically unnecessary, the practice and Dr. Scimeca billed for services that they did not perform, and the contract between the practice and the diagnostics company violated the Anti-Kickback Statute.