Genetic Testing Firm Pays $2.5 Million for Kickback Allegations

A California-based genetic testing company will pay $2.5 million to settle allegations it paid kickbacks in return for patient referrals, the Justice Department said.

AutoGenomics Inc., owner of a laboratory known as PersonalizeDx Labs, paid a health-care marketing company to refer its clients to the laboratory for tests, the DOJ said Monday.

The marketing company wasn’t named in the statement.

The clients were residents of nursing homes operated by a third company, Prestige Healthcare. The DOJ alleged that Prestige provided the health-care marketing company information to identify its Medicare patients, allowed access to its patients to obtain tissue samples, and ...