DOJ settles CityMD Covid fraud allegations for $12 million

[Pelican Press 0]

DOJ settles CityMD Covid ****** allegations for $12 million

People wait in in a ****** to enter CityMD, a health clinic that offers coronavirus ******** (COVID-19) testing, on the Upper West Side as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 19, 2021.

Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Walgreens-backed CityMD will pay $12.04 million to settle Covid ****** allegations brought by the

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, the department announced on Friday.

From February 2020 to April 2022, CityMD, which operates over 100 walk-in urgent care practices in New York and New Jersey, allegedly obtained fraudulent government reimbursements for Covid tests by submitting false claims to a Covid program specifically designated for uninsured patients, even when their patients had health insurance.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey brought the allegations under the

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, a law that incentivizes whistleblowers to file lawsuits related to potential ****** by providing them a portion of the government’s winnings in successful cases.

“Uninsured Americans who were at risk from COVID-19 were covered by emergency funding programs that made available to them the testing, vaccines and treatments that they needed,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a Friday statement. “The alleged misuse of these funds is something we cannot and will not tolerate.”

Stephen Kitzinger, a CityMD patient, initially alleged the ****** in

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. As a reward for bringing the case to the government’s attention, Kitzinger will receive over $2 million of the settlement.

Kitzinger’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of regular business hours.

CityMD cooperated with the government’s investigation and hired a third-party firm to help the government determine how much was lost in connection as a result of the alleged ******, according to the DOJ.

CityMD said it denies the allegations but has decided to settle in order to to avoid the costs of dragged-out litigation.

“The recent settlement is neither a finding of liability nor an admission of wrongdoing, and CityMD denies the allegations. However, we settled this matter to avoid the cost and burden of prolonged litigation,” a CityMD spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC on Saturday. “CityMD is proud of the health care services we provided to patients throughout the pandemic.”

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