Health Quest Systems, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries (Health Quest) and Putnam Health Center (PHC) have agreed to pay over $14.7 million to resolve allegations of violations of the False Claims Act by submitting inflated and otherwise ineligible claims for payment, the Justice Department announced.  New-York based Health Quest is a family of integrated hospitals and healthcare providers that deliver surgical, medical and home health care services.  PHC is a Health Quest subsidiary hospital based in Carmel Hamlet, New York. 

In the settlement announced today, Health Quest and PHC admitted, acknowledged, and accepted responsibility for certain facts involving the submission of improper claims for various health-related services, including the following:  

From April 1, 2009 through June 23, 2015, Health Quest submitted claims for evaluation and management services but did not sufficiently document the services to support the level of service billed.  As a result, the services were billed two levels higher than supported by the medical record.  

From April 1, 2011 through August 2014, Health Quest submitted claims for home health services that lacked sufficient medical records to support the claim, including documentation of a face-to-face encounter with a physician.  

From March 1, 2014 through December 31, 2014, Health Quest subsidiary hospital, PHC, submitted allegedly false claims for inpatient and outpatient services referred to PHC by two orthopedic physicians, in alleged violation of the Physician Self-Referral Law.  The two physicians had a direct financial relationship with PHC for providing administrative services and received compensation from PHC.  The United States alleged their compensation exceeded the fair market value for the services, and thereby violated the Physician Self-Referral Law, which prohibits a hospital from billing Medicare for certain services referred by physicians with whom the hospital has an improper compensation arrangement. The United States further alleged that one purpose of the excessive compensation was to induce the above referrals to PHC, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.

As part of the settlements announced today, Health Quest will pay an additional $895,427 to the State of New York, which jointly funds the State’s Medicaid program with the federal government. 

Contemporaneously with the False Claims Act settlement, Health Quest also agreed to enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with HHS-OIG to address future compliance.

The settlement resolves three lawsuits brought by former employees of Health Quest under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private citizens to bring lawsuits on behalf of the United States and obtain a portion of the government’s recovery.  Tim Cleary will receive $1,893,092, John Betaudier and Carolyn Carroll will receive, collectively, $56,266, and Gregory Folta will receive at least $875,546.  

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.