A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Tennessee Orthopaedic Clinics PC and Appalachian Orthopaedic Clinics PC. They are accused of knowingly billing state and federal health care programs for reimported osteoarthritis medications, known as viscosupplements.
Tennessee Orthopaedic Clinics PC will pay $1.3 million, and Appalachian Orthopaedic Clinics PC will pay $550,000. The whistleblower will receive a $323,750 share of the recovery.
The case, filed in February 2012, alleged that the clinics knowingly purchased deeply discounted viscosupplements that were reimported from foreign countries and billed them to state and federal health care programs in order to profit from the reimbursement system, when such reimported viscosupplements were not reimbursable by those programs. Allegedly, the reimported product included labeling in foreign languages and in English for additional uses not approved in the United States, which demonstrated that the product was reimported. Moreover, because the product was reimported, the government alleged there was no manufacturer assurance that it had not been tampered with or that it was stored appropriately.
