By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis – The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri announced Thursday that one of the nation's largest dialysis services companies will pay more than $350 million in fines and penalties.
The case is the largest fraud settlement that office has ever reached.
Gambro Healthcare was accused of paying kickbacks to doctors, filing false statements for unnecessary services, and establishing a fake subsidiary to overcharge Medicare providers.
The settlement now bars that subsidiary from participating in the Medicare program.
U.S. Attorney James Martin says four years ago, Gambro Healthcare paid a $53 million settlement for falsifying medical claims.
"So it's the same company, some of the same allegations, but we think through a corporate compliance program that we have also insisted upon, that this company will not be doing it again."
Gambro Healthcare operates 10 dialysis clinics in the St. Louis area.