This civil settlement illustrates the governments emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Magnificent semi-detached house in a gated community with common areas located a few meters from Avenida de Europa in Pozuelo de Alarcn. Seattle, WA 98101-1271. His courage and dedication to expose the truth at such a high personal cost should be lauded.. A circuit judge ultimately decided that DeStephens was qualified to provide an expert opinion about post-surgical care provided by the advanced registered nurse practitioner, court documents show. The $14.5 million is about 1.7 percent of the total amount of the services Sound Physicians charged the federal government during the . The Sound Physicians settlement was the result of a coordinated effort by the Department of Justice, Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch; the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Washington; the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General; the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General; the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General; and the TRICARE Management Activity Office of General Counsel. Court records show that on Nov. 4, Southeastern sued Kimbrough again. All Rights Reserved. One of the ACA's most popular and widely recognized benefits, the . A Tacoma company that provides doctors to some 70 hospitals in 22 states has agreed to pay $14.5 million to settle an overbilling lawsuit. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. So it has continued to expand, hiring more doctors and buying up additional practices. The lawsuits, filed Wednesday in Colorado and Texas, were brought by U.S. Anesthesia Partners, a sizable physician-owned practice backed by private-equity investors. Appelbaum, like other experts interviewed for this story, had not heard of instances in which private equity-backed doctors groups sued patients. A New York Times investigation in 2016 found that after private equity firms took over ambulance companies, some response times slowed and billing practices became more aggressive.