Lincare pays $5.25M to resolve allegations
By HME News Staff
Updated Tue August 21, 2018
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Lincare has paid $5.25 million to resolve allegations that it violated the federal False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute by offering illegal price reductions to Medicare beneficiaries, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Illinois. The government alleged that, from 2011 to 2017, Lincare attempted to gain a competitive advantage in the market by unlawfully waiving or reducing co-insurance, co-payments and deductibles for beneficiaries who participated in a Medicare Advantage Plan operated through a private insurer. The allegations were first brought to light in a 2015 whistleblower lawsuit filed by Brian Thomas, a former billing supervisor at Lincare, who will receive $918,750 from the settlement proceeds.
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