A Rockville-based medical practice has agreed to pay nearly $400,000 to settle allegations it submitted false claims to Medicare, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
Cardiac Associates P.C., administered testing to patients and billed Medicare for the work, then submitted claims for additional, outdated tests between January 2012 and December 2016, according to an announcement from federal prosecutors.
The practice also has offices in Germantown, Olney and Laurel that provide heart and circulatory system procedures.
The agreement states the settlement is not an admission of liability by Cardiac Associates nor a concession by federal prosecutors that the claims are not founded.
An attorney for Cardiac Associates declined to comment.
Billing records show Cardiac Associates performed a test to check for blood flow issues in the legs of patients and billed Medicare for it, prosecutors said. The practice then billed Medicare under a second code, referring to an older version of the test.
The two procedures were billed on the same date for the patients when only a new version of testing was performed, according to the agreement.
This double-billing was improper and contributed to false claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, prosecutors said.
Cardiac Associates agreed to pay $399,230.35 within 90 days, according to the settlement agreement.