NEW YORK – Pacific Toxicology Laboratories will pay $1 million to resolve allegations of submitting false claims to the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for urine drug testing, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts said on Wednesday.
The California-based laboratory admitted that between Jan 1, 2020, and March 14, 2023, it separately billed Medicare for confirmatory urine drug testing in addition to the bundled payment rate for opioid treatment programs providing opioid use disorder treatment services, which includes urine drug testing.
By submitting separate claims for urine drug testing for opioid treatment program patients, Pacific Toxicology Laboratories allegedly caused Medicare to pay twice for urine drug testing for certain patients.
The claims were brought under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, and as part of the resolution, the whistleblower will receive approximately $200,000.