CVR Management, LLC, a professional services corporation in Greenbelt, Maryland, along with the Center for Vein Restoration, Center for Vascular Medicine (CVM), LLC, and Sanjiv Lakhanpal, MD, FACS, agreed to pay the United States $4 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for medically unnecessary vein treatment procedures. According to the United States, CVR, over a six-year period, knowingly submitted claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for chronic venous insufficiency treatment procedures that were medically unnecessary.
The United States further alleges that neither Medicare, Medicaid, nor TRICARE cover the treatment of varicose veins for cosmetic reasons alone. Treatment for chronic venous insufficiency must be accompanied by certain other conditions and after the patient undergoes a specified period of alternative treatment options that prove unsuccessful. Between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2016, CVR knowingly billed Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for sclerotherapy, radiofrequency ablation, and endovenous laser ablation procedures that were not clinically indicated and were medically unnecessary.