The U.S. Department of Justice announced that BSN Medical Inc., based in Charlotte, North Carolina, will pay $785,672.14 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by causing the submission of false claims to federal health care programs. The case stemmed from a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit.
The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act enable private citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the government if they know of an individual or company defrauding the government. Qui tam whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 15 and 30% of the government’s recovery, if one occurs. In this case, the U.S. government intervened in the whistleblower’s case and conducted the investigation.
“BSN is a medical device and equipment manufacturer…that specializes in the areas of compression therapy, wound care and orthopedics,” according to the press release. The U.S. government alleged that “from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017, BSN marketed and promoted various products that were not reimbursable because BSN had either not obtained approval from the Medicare Pricing, Data Analysis and Coding (PDAC) contractor, or for which PDAC approval had expired, in connection with three Healthcare Common Procedural Coding System (HCPCS) Codes.”
The press release does not include information on whether or not the whistleblower in this case will receive a portion of the settlement amount.