Ted Albin, Medicare Fraud, Tennessee 2023

A Florida-based Medicare reimbursement consultant has agreed to pay $50,000 to resolve allegations that he caused the submission of false claims to Medicare due to kickbacks to beneficiaries and ineligible patients in Tennessee.

Ted Albin, based in Stuart, Florida, and his consulting firm Grapevine Billing and Consulting Services Inc. (Grapevine) have settled with the United States government over allegations of False Claims Act violations.

According to the settlement, Albin and Grapevine caused the submission of false claims to Medicare because of kickbacks to beneficiaries and because patients were ineligible to receive glucometers.

The United States alleged that, from 2008 until 2017, Albin and Grapevine provided consulting services to Arriva Medical LLC (Arriva), its parent Alere Inc. (Alere), and starting in January 2018, Abbott Laboratories (Abbott), after Abbott acquired Arriva and Alere in October 2017.

Albin, through Grapevine, allegedly served as the Head of Reimbursement at Arriva, overseeing Arriva’s reimbursement department, developing Arriva’s policies for the collection of beneficiary copayment obligations, and submitting claims to Medicare on Arriva’s behalf for diabetic testing supplies.

The United States produced sworn testimony from Albin in the litigation in which he admitted to engaging in write-offs of customer co-payments, creating Arriva’s policy not to send a bill for customers who owed less than $5, and implementing ‘courtesy adjustments’ in the form of copayment waivers.

The settlement resolves allegations that Albin and Grapevine knowingly caused the submission of claims to Medicare that were tainted by the payment of kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries in the form of free or ‘no cost’ glucometers, or the routine waiver of beneficiary copayment obligations.

Consultants must abide by federal requirements when providing Medicare billing advice, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

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