False Claims Act Lawsuit Filed Against Pain Clinics

The U.S. government has filed suit against a Franklin, Tennessee-based pain management clinic.

The lawsuit accuses MedManagement Inc. and owner Michael Kestner of False Claims Act conduct for single tendon origin or insertion injections (TOI).

The lawsuit alleges Williams and physician Lisabeth Smolenski devised a scheme to operate interventional pain management clinics by fraudulently billing Medicare and TRICARE for injections that were not actually injections into the tendons at all.

Through this scheme, Kestner and Williams recruited providers, including mid-level medical providers such as nurse practitioners and physician’s assistants, to the pain clinics and trained, pressured, and coerced them into performing high numbers of injections into patients’ back muscles, and then bill for these injections as if they were TOIs.

The lawsuit stated Medicare paid the defendant pain clinics approximately $3 million for fraudulent services over a five year period.

MMI manages and has managed seven pain clinics across the state, including, Rock Island Medical Group, P.C.