Gregory Pinegar, formerly a general practice physician in Alva, Oklahoma, will pay $1.5 million to resolve civil charges of defrauding Medicare.
Pinegar is currently serving a 33 month prison term after pleading guilty in a parallel criminal proceeding.
The civil suit, which was originally brought by a whistleblower under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, alleged that Pinegar overcharged Medicare for the administration of Procrit and Remicade. The civil case alleged that before sending billing information to Medicare, Pinegar altered billing forms to show either that his office had administered drugs that were not actually administered or that his office had administered the drugs in quantities greater than what were actually administered.
According to a report in the December 2, 2007 issue of the Alva Review-Courier, the whistleblower in the case was awarded $250,000.