Health care company to pay nearly $1 million for role in billing for false genetic testing

MADISON, Wis. — A Kentucky-based health care company has agreed to pay nearly $1 million for its role in an alleged scheme to falsely bill Medicare for unnecessary medical testing, officials with the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.

In a news release, the Justice Department said Prestige Healthcare gave California-based Genomix access to Prestige patients at its nursing homes in several states, including Wisconsin. Genomix claimed it could perform testing on patients to make sure they were properly metabolizing medications. The department said Prestige failed to ensure patients’ doctors ordered the testing.

The scheme was uncovered by state investigators in 2015, and is reported to have occurred in 2014 and 2015.

Prestige operates four nursing homes in Wisconsin, including in Wisconsin Rapids, Rhinelander, Oshkosh and Milwaukee.

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