Vital Energy Occupational Therapy and Wellness Center, False Claims to Medicare and Medicaid, South Carolina 2016

COLUMBIA, South Carolina – Vital Energy Occupational Therapy and Wellness Center, LLC, headquartered in Lexington, South Carolina, has agreed to pay $200,000 to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted false or fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid for physical and occupational therapy services.

United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that the settlement resolves allegations that Vital Energy violated federal law from November 1, 2013, through April 30, 2016, by submitting bills for individual therapy services when group therapy services were actually provided, and by submitting bills for therapy services using former employees’ names and billing numbers when those former employees did not actually provide the therapy services.

Vital Energy denies these allegations. The settlement was the result of an investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office, with support from the Department of Health and Human Services and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Assistant United States Attorney Brook B. Andrews of the Columbia office handled the settlement. The case is captioned United States ex rel. Ashley C. Baggett, DPT v. Vital Energy Occupational Therapy and Wellness Center, LLC, d/b/a Vital Energy Wellness and Rehab Center, Case No. 3:16-cv-1692-DCC (D.S.C.).

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability. The whistleblower will receive $36,000 as part of today’s resolution.

“The False Claims Act exists to protect taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud, and abuse,” said U.S. Attorney Lydon. “And when health care providers fail to follow the rules, the public bears the cost. It is through settlements like these that we recover those costs and discourage fraudulent and reckless billing.”

Vital Energy Occupational Therapy and Wellness Center, LLC: A Lexington, South Carolina-based therapy practice that agreed to pay $200,000 to resolve allegations of false claims to Medicare and Medicaid.