NEW YORK – A diagnostic laboratory in Virginia settled a false claims lawsuit for $1.4 million after allegedly billing Medicare for invalid genetic tests, the US Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced last week.
Genetworx Laboratories allegedly used a sales representative who persuaded elderly Medicare beneficiaries in senior housing complexes to undergo genetic tests without the oversight of an ordering physician. From 2014 to 2015, Glen Allen, Virginia-based Genetworx allegedly submitted claims to Medicare for performing these invalid tests, according to the US Department of Justice.
The sales representative, Seth Rehfuss, pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging him with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and was sentenced in 2019 to more than four years in prison.