TEXAS — Officials have rounded up all the medical professionals accused of benefiting from kickback schemes. Fifteen Texas doctors are to pay $2.83 million to settle False Claims Act allegations and work with the Department of Justice’s investigations of and litigation against other parties.
“These settlements should reinforce the message that the Eastern District of Texas will not tolerate health care providers who seek to enrich themselves through kickback schemes,” said U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston for the Eastern District of Texas. “We will continue to work with our agency partners to identify those who defraud our taxpayers and we will hold those who have engaged in the schemes responsible.
Jason DeMattia, M.D., and Candice DeMattia, M.D., both of Tomball, Texas, agreed to pay $316,142 and $207,009, respectively, to settle allegations that from Aug.1, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2016, they received kickbacks from two MSOs, North Houston MSO Group Inc. and Tomball Medical Management Inc., in return for ordering laboratory tests from True Health and Little River.
Mark Le, M.D., of Tomball, Texas, agreed to pay $57,900 to settle allegations that from May 9, 2016, to Sept. 22, 2017, he received kickbacks from two MSOs, North Houston MSO Group Inc. and Tomball Medical Management Inc., in return for ordering laboratory tests from True Health and Little River. Andres Mesa, M.D., of Houston, Texas, agreed to pay $45,484 to settle allegations that from May 1, 2016, to Jan. 9, 2018, he received kickbacks from an MSO, Transparity Associates LP, in return for ordering laboratory tests from Boston Heart and Little River.
Kozhaya Sokhon, M.D., of the Woodlands, Texas, agreed to pay $160,456 to settle allegations that from Jan. 16, 2015, to May 18, 2018, he received kickbacks from two MSOs, SYNRG Partners LLC and Transparity Associates LP, in return for ordering laboratory tests from Boston Heart and Little River.