The owners of health clinic AmeriHealth have agreed to pay $2 million after admitting to violating the False Claims Act.
According to a complaint filed in December, Ryan and Alban Hatch, owners of the clinic, hired vulnerable, compromised and inexperienced medical staff members who were then pressured to submit false claims or provide "unnecessary and worthless" care, leading to false claims being submitted to federal payers, according to a Jan. 17 news release from the Justice Department.
The complaint also alleged that the Hatches pressured providers to prescribe controlled substances, participated in an unlawful kickback scheme with a third-party laboratory and falsely certified information to obtain forgiveness of a government-backed loan worth more than $750,000; that money was given to employers to help keep their workforce employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the release.
Through the agreement, the defendants also resolved, without admitting to, the allegations that they violated the Controlled Substances Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and fraudulently obtaining Paycheck Protection Program loans.