Alere, a company bought by Abbott (NYSE:ABT) in 2017, agreed to pay $160 million to resolve False Claims Act violation allegations.
Arriva Medical — a mail-order diabetic testing supply company ceased operations in December 2017 — and its parent, Alere, agreed to pay the settlement to resolve allegations that the companies 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, according to a news release from the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
“Paying illegal inducements to Medicare beneficiaries in the form of free items and routine copayment waivers can result in overutilization and waste taxpayer funds,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton for the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in the release. “We will continue to protect the integrity of the Medicare program by pursuing fraudulent claims arising from violations of the Anti…