CA med labs being sued for fraud

Seven private medical laboratories in California are being sued by the state for allegedly overcharging the Medicaid program upwards of 400 percent for the last 15 years. The fraud has cost California's Medicaid program hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Filed under the False Claims Act, the state accuses the labs of illegal kickbacks, and overcharging for tests done on blood and urine samples, among others. State attorney general Jerry Brown has voiced concern over why such as suit wasn't brought earlier. 

"If there were gross discrepancies, why wouldn't the state have jumped on this at an earlier point?" Brown asked. If they were charging $8 for a lab test when competitors were charging $2, what was the state doing?" 

The lawsuit initially was brought against the labs by an executive at a competing lab; the exec is looking to recover $100 million of the excess charges paid by Medi-Cal. 

For more:
- read the Modern Healthcare article

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