Madison, N.J.-based Quest Diagnostics has agreed to pay $241 million to settle allegations that the company overbilled the California’s Medi-Cal program for more than 15 years, according to a Sacramento Bee report.
The settlement — the largest recovery in the history of California’s False Claims Act — follows a 2005 whistleblower suit that charged Quest with overcharging Medi-Cal and giving illegal kickbacks in the form of discounted or free testing to physicians, hospitals and clinics that referred Medi-Cal business to the lab.
Quest, which is one of California’s largest providers of medical lab testing, denied all allegations and paid the settlement to “put the lawsuit behind [it],” according to the report.
Read the Sacramento Bee report on Quest Diagnostics and Medi-Cal.
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