Former Manager of Cookeville Pain Clinic Pays $1.45 Million To Resolve Lawsuit

A former company that managed the Cookeville Center for Pain Management has paid $1.45 million to resolve False Claims Act Violations.

The U.S. government’s lawsuit claimed that from 2011 to 2014, PMC LLC and owner Matthew Anderson improperly billed Medicare and TennCare for painkillers, which had no legitimate medical purposes. The settlement also calls for former Cookeville Center for Pain Management Nurse Practitioner Cindy Scott to surrender her DEA registration and pay $32,000 for not collaborating with a physician as required by law.

Matthew Anderson and his management company, PMC LLC, managed four pain clinics in Tennessee, most recently known as; Cookeville Center for Pain Management; Spinal Pain Solutions in Harriman; Preferred Pain Center of Grundy County in Gruetli Laager; and McMinnville Pain Relief Center. All of these clinics are now closed.

According to a press release from the Middle District of Tennessee Department of Justice, the settlement with Anderson and PMC resolves the governments’ claims that from 2011 through 2014, they caused pharmacies to submit requests for Medicare and TennCare payments for pain killers, including opioids, which were dispensed based upon prescriptions written at the Cookeville Center for Pain Management and which had no legitimate medical purpose.  The United States also contended that Anderson caused all four clinics to bill Medicare for upcoded claims for office visits that were not reimbursable at the levels sought.  In addition, the United States claimed that Anderson and PMC caused the submission of Medicare claims by the Cookeville and Harriman clinics for services provided by two nurse practitioners who were not collaborating with a physician as required by Tennessee law during parts of 2011 and 2012.

The U.S. government and Tennessee began investigating the case after a former office manager of the Cookeville Pain Clinic filed a lawsuit against Anderson, Scott, PMC and the three other pain clinics it operated.