National Cardio Labs LLC Pays $3.6 Million Settlement

Orange County, California-based National Cardio Labs LLC has finalized a settlement with the government to pay $3.6 million to resolve allegations that the company knowingly submitted false claims for heart monitoring services. From January 1998 through February 2004, National Cardio allegedly billed Medicare, TRICARE, and the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program for event monitoring services, physician services, 24-hour cardiac attended monitoring, electrocardiograms, and nerve conduction tests that it never performed. The lawsuit also alleged unbundling of services, procedures, and supplies to obtain excessive reimbursement. This whistleblower case was filed not just against National Cardio Labs, but also against its manager, Adrienne Stanman, and her husband, Robert Parsons. Earlier this year, the United States Attorney’s Office settled similar allegations with Robert Parson’s brother, Matthew, and his sister-in-law, Rebecca Eaton Parsons, who operated Cardiac Monitoring Services, LLC and Cardiac Research LLC. As a result of these cases, the government has recovered a total of $6,367,823. Robert and Matthew Parsons both pleaded guilty in 2006 to federal health care fraud and were sentenced to one year in prison.

For more information, see http://wireupdate.com/local/national-cardio-labs-to-pay-3-6-million-to-solve-allegations-of-defrauding-federal-health-programs/  and http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/pressroom/pr2006/119.html