CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A Chattanooga-based dermatologist who owns skin cancer clinics at locations throughout our viewing area has agreed to pay the federal government more than $6 million to settle insurance fraud claims.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) says Dr. John Y. Chung will pay $6.6 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by “knowingly submitting false claims to federal healthcare programs for Mohs Micrographic Surgeries and other dermatological procedures,” according to a DoJ release.
Dr. Chung and his clinic, Skin Cancer & Cosmetic Dermatology Center, P.C. (SCCDC), were accused of filing false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and other government payors for Mohs procedures that were billed as if both the surgery and pathology portions of the procedures were performed by Dr. Chung, when in fact at least one of those procedures was carried out by other people.
SCCDC has 2 clinics in Chattanooga, as well as in Hixson, Athens, Cleveland, Dayton, Kimball, Dalton, Ringgold and Calhoun.