LifeWatch Services Facing FCA Charges on Use of Foreign Personnel
Posted October 20, 2015, 3:14 P.M. ET
By Eric Topor
A federal district court in Illinois denied cardiac monitoring company LifeWatch Services Inc.'s motion to dismiss a whistle-blower's lawsuit accusing the company of using uncertified technicians in India to perform monitoring services in violation of federal health-care regulations.
False Claims Act whistle-blower Matthew Cieszynski, a technician with LifeWatch, alleged that his employer was using technicians in India to perform cardiac monitoring services to patients in the United States, and then switching the technician's name with a LifeWatch certified technician in the U.S. before submitting the claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and the Veterans Administration Health Care. Cieszynski said LifeWatch knew that federal health-care program regulations require patients located in the U.S. to be treated by persons also located in the U.S., and that it falsely certified that it was in compliance with regulations with every claim submission.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said the whistle-blower's allegations, which included four specific claims submitted to Medicare that involved Indian technicians whose names were switched with U.S.-based technicians before submission to a referring physician, plausibly alleged that LifeWatch submitted false claims to the government. The court also pointed to forms LifeWatch allegedly submitted with each claim that certified compliance with federal health-care regulations as sufficient to establish liability under an express certification theory of liability.
The case is United States ex rel. Cieszynski v. LifeWatch Servs., Inc., 2015 BL 342749, N.D. Ill., No. 1:13-cv-04052, 10/19/15.
Posted October 20, 2015, 3:14 P.M. ET
By Eric Topor
A federal district court in Illinois denied cardiac monitoring company LifeWatch Services Inc.'s motion to dismiss a whistle-blower's lawsuit accusing the company of using uncertified technicians in India to perform monitoring services in violation of federal health-care regulations.
False Claims Act whistle-blower Matthew Cieszynski, a technician with LifeWatch, alleged that his employer was using technicians in India to perform cardiac monitoring services to patients in the United States, and then switching the technician's name with a LifeWatch certified technician in the U.S. before submitting the claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and the Veterans Administration Health Care. Cieszynski said LifeWatch knew that federal health-care program regulations require patients located in the U.S. to be treated by persons also located in the U.S., and that it falsely certified that it was in compliance with regulations with every claim submission.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said the whistle-blower's allegations, which included four specific claims submitted to Medicare that involved Indian technicians whose names were switched with U.S.-based technicians before submission to a referring physician, plausibly alleged that LifeWatch submitted false claims to the government. The court also pointed to forms LifeWatch allegedly submitted with each claim that certified compliance with federal health-care regulations as sufficient to establish liability under an express certification theory of liability.
The case is United States ex rel. Cieszynski v. LifeWatch Servs., Inc., 2015 BL 342749, N.D. Ill., No. 1:13-cv-04052, 10/19/15.