Three North Texas laboratory companies are charged with participating in a bribery scheme where doctors were offered kickbacks to order millions of dollars worth of unnecessary tests. The scheme resulted in over $300 million being billed to federal health care programs, like Medicare, according to a federal indictment.
Two doctors and eight others are accused of health care fraud in the indictment after several federal offices, including the FBI Dallas field office, investigated the case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas announced Thursday.
“Illegal kickback schemes corrupt the health care system,” Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno said in a news release. “They cause billions of dollars in losses each year, generate business for dishonest service providers and erode trust.”
The indictment, filed Wednesday afternoon in the U.S. Northern District federal court, names Jeffrey Paul Madison, the founder and the CEO of Unified Laboratory Services in Fort Worth and Spectrum Diagnostic Laboratory in Arlington. The CEO of both is Mark Boggess. It also names Biby Ancy Kurian and Abraham Phillips, the founders of Reliable Labs LLC in Carrollton.
Between 2015 and 2018, a Laredo physician, Dr. Eduardo Canova, received over $300,000 in kickbacks to order over $12 million worth of lab tests from Unified and Spectrum, according to the indictment.
Dr. Jose Maldonado, also of Laredo, received over $400,000 to order over $4 million worth of tests, the indictment states.
A nurse practitioner based in San Antonio, Keith Wichinski, also submitted over 4,000 orders to the labs, which billed for more than $21 million, the indictment says, including $14 million to federal programs.
Some of the medical professionals got kickbacks in exchange for referring urine samples to the labs, the indictment states.
Lab marketers paid portions of a doctor’s staff salaries and office leases, which was contingent on the number of lab tests referred each month, according to the indictment.
Marketers even paid the provider’s spouse directly in some instances, according to the indictment. Two marketing firms are named and one is based in San Antonio — David-Claudia-Lauren Holdings LLC. Owner David Lizcano and sister Laura Ortiz, who is an employee, are named. The other marketing firm, Rojas & Associates, is owned by Juan Rojas.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 55 years or more in federal prison, the office said.
The indictment is for 26 counts that include: conspiracy to commit health care fraud; conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks; offering or paying illegal kickbacks; and soliciting or receiving illegal kickbacks.
Canova, Rojas and Philips have attorneys, according to court documents. It is unclear if the other defendants have representation.
”Anti-kickback laws are designed to ensure that financial considerations do not cloud physicians’ judgment,” U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham said in the news release.
