Feds File Civil Complaint against Vascular Care Company Alleging Massive Fraud

Photo Courtesy of Clara Barton High School

Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace

By Forum Staff

The United States recently filed a civil complaint in federal court in Brooklyn against Fresenius Vascular Care, Inc. alleging that the company performed unnecessary procedures on dialysis patients at nine centers across New York City, Long Island and Westchester, and billed the procedures to Medicare, Medicaid, the Federal Health Benefits Program and TRICARE.

The complaint seeks damages and penalties under the False Claims Act.

Photo Courtesy of Google
At least two of the defendants operated vascular access centers at this facility on Union Turnpike in Flushing.

As alleged in the complaint, from about Jan. 1, 2012 through June 30, 2018, Fresenius routinely performed certain procedures on patients with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) who were receiving dialysis, without sufficient clinical indication that the patients needed the procedures. These interventions included fistulagrams, which are radiological procedures in which dye is injected into the patient’s vein or artery to visualize the port and surrounding blood vessels, and angioplasties, in which wires and balloons are inserted into veins or arteries that have narrowed to restore the patient’s blood flow. Fresenius knowingly subjected ESRD patients—who included elderly, disadvantaged minority, and low-income individuals—to these procedures to increase its revenues.

Defendants operated vascular access centers at the following locations during the relevant period:

American Access Care of Bellmore (now “American Access Care Nassau County”),

250 Pettit Avenue, Suite 2, Bellmore, NY 11710

American Access Care Brooklyn, 577 Prospect Avenue Lower Level, Brooklyn, NY 11215
American Access Care of New York (now “American Access Care Manhattan”), 403