NEWARK, N.J. — Quest Diagnostics Inc. has agreed to pay more than $13 million to resolve allegations that it gave doctors and health care executives free access to New York Giants events to win laboratory testing referrals, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said Friday.
The Secaucus-based lab company will pay $13,014,576 plus interest, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced. The settlement resolves claims under the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute. Prosecutors said the claims are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
According to the government, from July 25, 2013, to Aug. 3, 2022, Quest offered free, exclusive entertainment to decision-makers at client practices to encourage them to send patients’ lab work to the company. The events grew out of a 2013 naming rights and sponsorship agreement with the Giants that gave Quest suites at MetLife Stadium.
The perks included game-day suite seats, VIP training camp visits, “Draft Chalk Talks” and family combine days, prosecutors said. Quest allegedly tracked the return on its investment over the 2013 through 2016 football seasons and then billed Medicare and the New York and New Jersey Medicaid programs for tests referred by clients it had entertained.
Frazer called the agreement “yet another example of our office’s commitment to enforcing the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute.” He said kickbacks from lab companies corrupt medical judgment and waste taxpayer money.
Naomi D. Gruchacz, special agent in charge for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, said such violations “compromise medical judgment and threaten the integrity of federal health care programs.”
“The FBI is committed to rooting out health care fraud in NJ and beyond,” said Stefanie Roddy, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Newark office.
As part of the deal, Quest entered a five-year corporate integrity agreement with the HHS inspector general’s office.
The case began as a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions, which let private parties sue on the government’s behalf and share in any recovery. The three whistleblowers, Dr. Gerard Abate, Lori Anderson and Dr. Douglas S. Rabin, will receive a combined $2,472,769.
The FBI and the HHS inspector general’s office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Susan J. Pappy and George L. Brandley handled the matter for the government.
This report is based on information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office press release
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