Pierre, SD, USA / DRGNews
May 4, 2021 | 12:33 PM
Neurosurgeon Dr. Wilson Asfora of Sioux Falls and two medical device distributorships that he owns, Medical Designs LLC and Sicage LLC, have agreed to pay $4.4 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations relating to illegal payments to Asfora to induce the use of certain medical devices, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as claims for medically unnecessary surgeries.
Medical Designs and Sicage agreed to pay an additional $100,000 in penalties to settle allegations that they violated the Open Payments Program by failing to report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Asfora’s ownership interests and payments made to Asfora.
Pharma company to pay $12.6M to settle kickback allegations
RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press
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DOVER, Del. (AP) A Delaware pharmaceutical company has agreed to pay $12.6 million to resolve allegations that it violated the federal False Claims Act by paying kickbacks.
Department of Justice officials said in a news release Tuesday that the settlement resolves allegations that Incyte Corp. improperly used an independent foundation to cover the copays of certain people taking the company’s cancer drug Jakafi from November 2011 to December 2014. Jakafi is approved to treat a bone marrow cancer called myleofibrosis.
Authorities said Incyte was the sole donor to a fund that was opened in November 2011 to assist only myleofibrosis patients. Government officials alleged that after the fund opened, Incyte used it to pay the copays of federal beneficiaries taking Jakafi who were ineligible for assistance from the fund because they did not have myleofibrosis.
Dr. Wilson Asfora and two affiliated companies agree to pay $4.4 million to settle healthcare fraud allegations By Todd Epp
May 3, 2021 9:42 AM
WASHINGTON – Neurosurgeon Wilson Asfora, M.D. of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and two medical device distributorships that he owns, Medical Designs LLC and Sicage LLC, have agreed to pay $4.4 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations relating to illegal payments to Asfora to induce the use of certain medical devices, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as claims for medically unnecessary surgeries.
Medical Designs and Sicage agreed to pay an additional $100,000 in penalties to settle allegations that they violated the Open Payments Program by failing to report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Asfora’s ownership interests and payments made to Asfora.
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CNHI PhotoPatricia Castillo, in her Niagara Falls, NY home, shares a photo of her parents. Her mother, Ruth Sandonato, died from a COVID-19 infection at Newfane Rehab & Health Care Center in May 2020.
Patricia Castillo
Ruth Sandonato
CNHI PhotoPatricia Castillo holds up a family photo, with her mother, Ruth Sandonato, center. Sandonato died from a COVID-19 infection but questions remain about her nursing facilityâs oversight and care. breaking editor s pick topical enterprise featured popular top story Unwatched: More than half of U.S. nursing homes overdue for certification inspections
By Whitney Downard CNHI News Service May 1, 2021 1 of 4
CNHI PhotoPatricia Castillo, in her Niagara Falls, NY home, shares a photo of her parents. Her mother, Ruth Sandonato, died from a COVID-19 infection at Newfane Rehab & Health Care Center in May 2020.
Doctor Sentenced to Prison for Conspiring to Receive Health Care Kickbacks Details Written by IVN
New Orleans, Louisiana - A Louisiana doctor was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in a scheme to receive approximately $336,000 in illegal health care kickback payments.
Gray Wesley Barrow, M.D., 61, of Baton Rouge, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks on Nov. 20, 2018. According to court documents, Barrow was a co-owner of Louisiana Spine & Sports LLC, a pain management clinic located in Baton Rouge. Barrow agreed to send urine specimens collected from his patients to a drug testing laboratory in return for an unlawful kickback calculated as a percentage of the reimbursements paid to the laboratory by Medicare and other health care benefit programs.