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A Tennessee-based company that operated a Cookeville pain clinic has settled allegations of Medicare fraud with federal authorities.
Rinova The Wellness Group settled the allegations leveled by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee. The settlement stands at $482,000.
The company closed its clinic, including the Cookeville location, in May, 2019 after charges that owner Dr. Ben Johnson had tried to circumvent Medicare’s payment suspension of PAIN MD Clinics. According to prosecutors, Johnson had used the new company, Rinova, to acquire the Pain MD assets and then tried to obtain new Medicare payment numbers. The company continued to operate using the same Pain MD employees, clinics, locations, and patients.
Medicaid suspended its payments after allegations of worthless injections and inflated costs.
According to the settlement, Rinova waived its claim to $379,961 in suspended Medicare payments, forfeited $49,112, and paid an additional $53,151.
