Drug Test Lab Owner to Pay $2 Million Over Kickback Allegations

The owner of a defunct diagnostic testing laboratory will pay $2 million to resolve allegations that his labs paid kickbacks to doctors for referrals and submitted millions of dollars in false claims to the Medicare program, the Justice Department said.

Philip McHugh, a former part-owner of South-Carolina-based Physicians Choice Laboratory Services, participated in several schemes to induce doctors to refer patients to the laboratory, the DOJ said in a Friday statement. These included providing doctors with urine drug-testing equipment, paying volume-based commissions and a salary to an employee in a position to influence physician referrals, and making loans to physicians, ...