Crime Bosses Caught: Hubert Zachary, False Claims Act Allegations, Florida 2013
Jacksonville, Florida – A Florida-based sleep clinic and two physicians have settled a False Claims Act lawsuit that alleges they knowingly submitted false claims to the government for payment. The Sleep Medicine Center and Dr. Hubert Zachary and Dr. George Restea agreed to pay $300,000 to resolve the claims, with the clinic paying $200,000 and Dr. Zachary paying nearly $100,000. Both the clinic and Dr. Zachary will be excluded from participation in the federal healthcare programs for 8 years.
The lawsuit, filed under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by a former employee of the clinic, alleges that the defendants violated the law by submitting claims for services that were not medically necessary, were not conducted by appropriately licensed individuals, or were not actually performed.
The government will move forward against remaining defendants Dr. John DeCerce and Dr. George Young, who allegedly agreed to act as medical directors and staff physicians but failed to properly supervise the clinic. The lawsuit alleges that these doctors merely lent their names in exchange for compensation, allowing the Sleep Medicine Center to bill the federal healthcare programs.
The whistleblower, Donna Nichols, a former employee at the clinic, will receive more than $60,000 as part of the settlement.
The settlement highlights the government’s emphasis on combating healthcare fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by the Department of Health and Human Services. Since January 2009, the government has recovered more than $19 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $13.4 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal healthcare programs.
The claims resolved by this settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability. The lawsuit against the defendants was filed in the U.S.
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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