Kentucky-based medical equipment provider Oxygen Plus, Inc. will pay $200,000 to settle allegations of violating the False Claims Act by billing Medicare and Medicaid for unnecessary or unused respiratory devices in patients’ treatment.
Designed for patients with respiratory disease, Oxygen Plus provides patients with home-use non-invasive ventilators (NIV) that deliver pressurized air to the lungs. The company allegedly submitted over 300 false claims to Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid between January 2017 and June 2021, filing for reimbursement for NIV rentals for patients who no longer needed or used the device.
The lawsuit was filed by two former employees under the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions. Qui tam permits private citizens with knowledge of fraud, corporate or individual, against the government to bring forth a lawsuit on behalf of the United States and are eligible to receive shares between 15 and 30% of the government’s recovery. In this suit, the whistleblowers are set to receive $32,000 from the $200,000 settlement.