A physician in Chattanooga, Tenn., and his practice in Ringgold, Ga., will pay $700,000 to resolve allegations that they submitted false claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary chelation therapy.
According to a March 14 news release from the Department of Justice, from September 2009 to January 2017, Robert Burkich, MD, allegedly billed Medicare for administering edetate calcium disodium, a chelation drug used to treat lead poisoning, to patients who did not need the medication. EDTA is a “rarely used drug” that is only indicated for use in individuals suffering from lead poisoning and lead encephalopathy, according to the release.
The Justice Department claims that Dr. Burkich falsely represented that his patients suffered from lead poisoning or other heavy-metal-related diseases in order to subvert Medicare’s restrictions on EDTA and obtain reimbursement.
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