Anesthesia Fraud Claims Targeting NAPA Management Advance

NAPA Management Services Corp. and others will continue to face a whistleblower’s claims they fraudulently billed Medicare for anesthesia services in violation of the False Claims Act.

Michael Lord adequately alleged the defendants submitted false claims to Medicare by billing for “medically directed” services when less expensive anesthesiology services from registered nurse anesthetists were actually provided, Judge Malachy E. Mannion of the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said in a Tuesday opinion.

There’s a genuine dispute over whether the defendants’ alleged billing violations mattered to the government’s decisions to pay the claims, the court said. Materiality ...