Dr. Gallups profited from ordering physicians who worked at his ENT clinics to require unnecessary lab tests through a secret arrangement with a Texas lab company. He split the profit generated by the tests with the lab company, according to the Journal-Constitution.
The scheme defrauded payers and billed patients for thousands of dollars. Dr. Gallups pleaded guilty to submitting the fraudulent claims and was ordered to pay more than $700,000 in restitution.
In a separate case, Dr. Gallups also agreed to pay about $3 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging the scheme billed federal healthcare programs.
John Oxendine, Georgia’s former insurance commissioner, was indicted in May on charges he was the middleman in the scheme, according to the Journal-Constitution. The lab company paid kickbacks to Dr. Gallups through the former insurance commissioner, according to prosecutors.
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