A company that operates a nursing home in Rhinelander and three other facilities in Wisconsin has been fined $1 million for its role in alleged false billing of genetic testing.
Prestige Administrative Services, doing business as Prestige Healthcare, was fined in federal court in a role to allegedly scheme to falsely bill Medicare for unnecessary genetic testing.
Nursing home operators place order with clinical labs for medically necessary lab tests for residents. The tests must be ordered by a physician treating the resident. Federal officials allege Prestige was approached by a company to allegedly determine whether patients were properly metabolizing medications.
Prestige went along with the testing, including providing personal medical information, which included a cheek swab. The federal government alleges Prestige failed to obtain physician approval before the testing took place.
The settlement announcement resolved only Prestige's civil liability but did not resolve any liability from individuals or entities. As part of the settlement, Prestige agreed to to cooperate in the ongoing federal investigation.
