LABS SETTLE IN BILLING SUIT.Byline: Daily News Two national operators of clinical laboratories - including Tarzana-based Unilab Corp. - will pay $11 million to settle charges that they overbilled the federal government for about 700,000 unnecessary blood tests. The settlement also involves Corning Clinical Laboratories Inc. of Teterboro, N.J. Corning bought out MetPath Inc., which owned many of the labs and had agreed to settle similar cases in the past. Unilab was once a MetPath subsidiary but was spun off into a public company in 1993. Under the settlement, Corning will pay $6.9 million, and Unilab will pay $4.1 million. The state of California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). is to get $190,643 as reimbursement Reimbursement Payment made to someone for out-of-pocket expenses has incurred. for false Medicaid billings. Unilab denies any wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do .
``It's far and away the most efficient solution. It would cost more to fight it than settle,'' said Richard Michaelson, Unilab's chief financial officer. ``Fighting the government, when they are such a big customer, would be in our view a very unwise business decision.'' Unilab anticipates taking a charge of approximately $4.8 million against earnings in the third quarter as a result of the settlement. It will cover legal fees and expenses. Unilab is the largest provider of clinical laboratory testing services in California, with facilities in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. and Sacramento and more than 200 regional facilities statewide. The original lawsuit lawsuit: see procedure; tort. was bought by two whistle-blowers, Kevin Spear and C. Jack Dowden, who worked at a MetPath subsidiary. They will get about $1.6 million from the settlement, approved Thursday by a federal judge. They filed the case in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden under the False Claims Act in January 1995 after leaving MetWest Inc. The two workers charged that the labs cheated Medicare and other state and federal insurance programs by performing tests and getting reimbursement for tests that were not ordered by doctors and were medically unnecessary. |
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