DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina medical technology company that makes joint pain treatments has been ordered to pay the federal government more than $3.6 to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act.
The Durham-based company, Bioventus, was accused of forging physician notes and certificates of medical necessity to obtain medical reimbursements from 2012 to 2018, according to a statement from Matthew G. T. Martin, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.
The complaint stated that reimbursable services under Medicare and Medicaid must be “medically reasonable and necessary,” but some of Bioventus’ claims were improperly completed and not eligible for such reimbursements.
Bioventus filed a self-disclosure in 2018 reporting the activity to the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to the district attorney’s office.
“We appreciate Bioventus’s disclosure of these issues and hope this matter reminds other Medicare enrollees that they must have internal controls in place to ensure proper compliance with Medicare,” Martin said in the statement. “Better to catch it and self-disclose than for us to discover it and come calling”
A spokesman for Bioventus told The News & Observer that the company would not comment on the case, but said officials disclosed the matter to investors when it filed for an initial public offering in February.
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