Phillips & Cohen whistleblower attorney Molly Knobler was cited in a recent Westlaw Practitioner Insights article about the $9.68 million settlement reached with Rotech Healthcare Inc. The medical device company agreed to the settlement to resolve claims that it inappropriately billed Medicare for oxygen supplies:
“The Justice Department said that, from 2009 to 2012, Rotech automatically billed Medicare for portable oxygen supplies after the 36-month rental period, without ensuring patients used or needed them and without obtaining proof of delivery.
The company continued to do so despite knowing the practice resulted in Medicare being billed for portable oxygen contents that were ineligible for reimbursement, the department said.
The settlement resolved claims first raised in a sealed whistleblower lawsuit filed by Janet Hale, a former employee in Rotech’s billing department.
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‘Without our client, the government would have been unaware that millions of dollars were being siphoned off of Medicare and Medicaid,’ Molly Knobler, a lawyer for Hale at Phillips & Cohen, said in a statement.”