Late last month the United States Justice Department announced that Areté Sleep LLC, Areté Sleep Therapy LLC and Areté Holdings LLC (“Areté”) agreed to settle false claims allegations for $650,000. The prosecution contends that from November 2002 to December 2009 Areté’s medical equipment and sleep medicine facilities in Arizona and Texas presented false claims to Medicare. The entities allegedly submitted claims to Medicare for diagnostic sleep tests performed by unlicensed or uncertified technicians counter to Medicare rules and regulations.
Areté also allegedly presented false claims for medical devices, likely CPAP, dispensed pursuant to the same suspect sleep tests allegedly performed by uncertified technicians.
An individual relator, Amanda Drews, brought these charges against Areté under the False Claims Act. She will receive $107,250 from the settlement as her share of the recovery.
Areté filed for voluntary bankruptcy protection in January of this year. The parties agreed to pay the $650,000 settlement from the proceeds of Arete’s bankruptcy asset sale.
For more information about regulatory matters governing sleep centers and PAP therapy for obstructive sleep apnea, please contact Daniel B. Brown, Esq. at (770) 804-6475, or visit the HLP website.