Compliance Today (February 2021) - Purdue Pharma LP pleaded guilty to three felony offenses: “one count of dual-object conspiracy to defraud the United States and to.
Correction: Medicare’s home oxygen national coverage determination has been waived during the public health emergency.
RMC’s Jan. 25 issue stated otherwise. The online edition of the story has already been corrected.
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Athenahealth Inc. (Athena), an electronic health records (EHR) services developer, has agreed to pay $18.25 million to settle false claims allegations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and Department of Justice (DOJ) said Jan. 29.
[1] Athena allegedly paid kickbacks to generate sales of its EHR product, athenaClinicals, through marketing programs. “Athena allegedly invited prospects and customers to all-expense-paid sporting, entertainment and recreational events,” DOJ said. The company also had a “Lead Generation” program designed to identify new customers. DOJ alleged Athena paid as much as $3,000 per physician if they signed up for Athena services, “regardless of how much time (if any) the client spent speaking or
Hannah L. Cross is a Healthcare lawyer Nelson Mullins, specializing in regulatory compliance, with emphasis on the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute.
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A National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit of five Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) awards to the University of Kansas Center for Research (KUCR) questioned $1,550,054 in direct and indirect costs. The largest amount, $625,532, stemmed from what auditors called “inappropriately retained indirect costs.” KUCR’s charges to NSF “exceeded costs paid to its subrecipients,” auditors said in the Jan. 7 report. Subrecipients, under a 2016 agreement, “billed KUCR for indirect costs on EPSCoR awards at rates that were 8 percentage points lower than their formal negotiated indirect cost rates. KUCR paid subrecipients at the lower rates, but it charged the EPSCoR awards for allowable indirect costs at the full, negotiated indirect cost rates and retained the remainder.” Auditors said NSF was not aware of this arrangement. “KUCR agreed to end the practice,” according to the report, but disagreed that its action