Abbott's Subsidiaries Agree To Pay $160 Mln To Settle Alleged False Claims To Medicare

(RTTNews) - Arriva Medical LLC and its parent Alere Inc have agreed to pay $160 million to settle allegations that they made, or caused, claims to Medicare that were false because kickbacks were paid to Medicare beneficiaries, patients were ineligible to receive meters, or patients were deceased, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

Until it ceased business operations in December 2017, Arriva was a mail-order diabetic testing supply company based in Coral Springs, Florida. Alere is a medical device company now based in Abbott Park, Illinois. Alere acquired Arriva in November 2011.

The United States alleged that, from April 2010 until the end of 2016, Arriva, with Alere's approval, paid kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries by providing them "free" or "no cost" glucometers and by routinely waiving, or not collecting, their copayments for meters and diabetic testing supplies.

Specifically, the United States alleged that Arriva advertised that glucometers would be "free," and then during intake calls offered Medicare beneficiaries a "no cost guarantee," under which Arriva would provide the meters at "no cost" if Medicare denied payment, which typically happened because the beneficiaries were not yet entitled to a new glucometer paid for by Medicare.

Arriva also allegedly offered and provided existing customers "free" additional meters to induce them to reorder testing supplies from Arriva.

The settlement also resolves allegations that Arriva and Alere caused the submission of false claims to Medicare for glucometers because Arriva, with Alere's approval, allegedly systematically provided to all of its new patients, and billed Medicare for, a meter without regard to the patients' eligibility for one.

The settlement resolves claims that Arriva submitted false claims to Medicare on behalf of deceased beneficiaries. In November 2016, the Medicare program revoked Arriva's Medicare supplier number for doing so.