PADUCAH — A Paducah doctor has agreed to pay $561,800 after federal prosecutors say he knowingly submitted or conspired to submit more than $3 million in false claims to Medicare. Prosecutors say he received kickbacks from a firm in exchange for filing Medicare claims that were not medically necessary for patients he did not actually treat.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky says Dr. Patrick C. Finney admitted to violating the False Claims Act, knowingly using false records and statements to get payments from Medicare and conspiring to defraud Medicare by causing the submission and payment of false claims.
According to prosecutors, Finney entered into financial arrangements to provide clients of physician staffing firm Barton Associates with telehealth services related to the referral of Medicare patients for durable medical equipment and genetic testing items and services and related to ordering those items and services. Prosecutors say Finney received illegal compensation from Barton Associates and its telehealth clients in exchange for referring Medicare patients for those services. Prosecutors say that arrangement is a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. They also say the claims were not medically necessary, and Finney didn’t treat the Medicare beneficiaries and often didn’t even speak with the beneficiaries.
In a news release sent Tuesday, federal prosecutors say Finney has admitted that he’s liable to the United States for $11,025,088 under the False Claims Act, because the act allows for damages totaling three times the amount of money the government lost, plus penalties. But, a stipulation and order Finney signed admitting to the Medicare fraud allegations allows him to fulfill his obligation by paying $561,800.