A group of laboratories, their owner, two marketing companies, and a Massachusetts doctor have been charged with Medicaid fraud, money laundering, and kickbacks involving urine drug tests. These caused over $2 million in false claims to the state, according to an announcement from Attorney General Maura Healey Tuesday.
The indictments are all allegedly connected to one “central defendant,” Vipin Adhlakha, and three independent clinical laboratories he has owned. Adhlakha is a resident of Westfield, Indiana, according to officials. The three labs he has owned are Alpha Labs, formerly of East Providence, R.I., Aria Diagnostics of Indianapolis, and Preferred Laboratory of Worcester. Each submitted claims to MassHealth and MassHealth managed care entities for urine drug testing, officials said.
Adhlakha and the companies he owned “engaged in kickback relationships” with two marketing companies: OSA Exports and Summit Diagnostics, Healey’s office alleged.
Their goal was allegedly to increase the number of urine drug tests referred to Adhlakha’s labs in exchange for a percentage of collected insurance reimbursements. Officials also allege that Adhlakha and his companies had another kickback relationship with Lab USA of Haverhill. This revolved around referring urine samples for testing in exchange for a percentage of insurance reimbursements, according to Healey’s office.
Adhlakha and his companies allegedly submitted claims to MassHealth that were either not appropriately ordered by prescribers, had false dates, were for medically unnecessary routine testing, or were for medically unnecessary residential monitoring purposes. State laws dictate that labs cannot bill MassHealth for tests performed at sober homes and shelters for residential monitoring because those tests are not medically necessary.
“By fraudulently billing MassHealth and its managed care entities for these tests, the defendants are alleged to have caused over $2 million in false claims,” a press release from Healey’s office stated.
OSA Exports, Summit Diagnostics, and Lab USA allegedly conspired with Adhlakha and his companies to form illegal kickback relationships. These resulted in thousands of claims being submitted to MassHealth and care groups it manages.
Finally, Healey’s office alleges that Adhlakha conspired with Darrolyn McCarroll-Lindsay, an Oak Bluffs doctor, to conduct urine drug testing at Massachusetts sober homes for residential sobriety monitoring purposes.
The defendants will be arraigned at an undetermined date in Suffolk Superior Court.
Last month, Healey’s Medicaid Fraud Division announced indictments against a New Bedford lab and its owner. These indictments were in connection with another alleged illegal kickback scheme and Medicaid fraud surrounding urine drug screens at sober homes.
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