Source: Office of United States Attorneys
LAKE CHARLES, La. – Acting United States Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook announced that Dr. Henry Goolsby, his wife and co-founder Patricia Lenae Goolsby, both of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and their medical clinic, Infinite Health Integrative Medical Center (“Infinite Health”), have agreed to pay $450,000 to resolve liability under the False Claims Act for the alleged improper billing of “P-Stim” devices.
From November of 2018 through April of 2020, Dr. Goolsby, Mrs. Goolsby, and Infinite Health billed Medicare for implanted neurostimulators, that required a surgical procedure in which the physician places wires that deliver stimulation to the epidural space on the spinal cord. This procedure must be performed in a surgery center, but Dr. Goolsby did not perform surgery. Instead, these “P-Stim” devices were applied in his office to his patients’ ears.
P-Stim is an electric acupuncture device that is affixed behind a patient’s ear using an adhesive. Needles are inserted into the patient’s ear and affixed using another adhesive. Once activated, the device then provides intermittent stimulation by electrical pulses. It is a single-use, battery-powered device designed to be worn for approximately four days until its battery runs out, at which time the device is thrown away. Medicare does not reimburse for acupuncture or for devices such as P-Stim, nor does Medicare reimburse for P-Stim as a neurostimulator or as implantation of neurostimulator electrodes.
“Falsely submitting claims for non-covered services and bilking Medicare out of needed funds is an abuse of our healthcare system,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander C. Van Hook. “This type of fraud can be debilitating to the Medicare program, and we will continue to use all available tools to investigate and hold accountable anyone who defrauds federally funded healthcare programs.”
“This settlement underscores our steadfast commitment to enforcing the False Claims Act,” said Special Agent in Charge Jason E. Meadows of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “We remain dedicated to safeguarding the integrity of federal health care programs and protecting the individuals who depend on them by investigating schemes that compromise the proper use of medical devices.”
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General and handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Theriot.
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