Lab-Testing Firm Finalizes Settlement in Overbilling Suit
New Jersey-based Quest Diagnostics has agreed to pay California $241 million to settle a 2005 whistle-blower lawsuit alleging the medical laboratory testing company overcharged Medi-Cal for more than 15 years. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program. The lawsuit also contended that the company gave illegal kickbacks to health care providers who referred Med-Cal beneficiaries and other business to its labs. The settlement is the largest in the history of California's False Claims Act, according to the state attorney general's office. Quest Diagnostics has denied the allegations in the complaint and said it agreed to the settlement "to put the lawsuit behind us."
- "Quest Settles Medi-Cal Suit for $241 Million" (Glover, Sacramento Bee, 5/20).
- "Quest Diagnostics Settles Medi-Cal Whistle-Blower Suit" (Lifsher, Los Angeles Times, 5/20).
- "Quest Diagnostics To Pay $241M for Overcharges" (Mohajer, AP/San Jose Mercury News, 5/19).