Alere, in its first-quarter earnings report released Wednesday, said the DOJ notified the company June 8 that it is closing the investigation of the operations at Alere’s pain management laboratory in Austin, Texas, and is not taking any legal action.
The DOJ probe into Alere’s billing practices goes back to July 2016. At the time, federal investigators requested information related to physician payments and the company’s Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare billing for patient samples tested at Alere’s Austin lab, according to the report, which cites The Wall Street Journal.
Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories currently has a deal to purchase Alere for $5.3 million. The original deal price was $5.8 million. However, the two companies renegotiated the price as a resolution between the two sides, which had sued each other, according to the report. Alere accused Abbott of not obtaining the necessary U.S. antitrust approvals for the acquisition. Abbott expressed concerns about the DOJ probe and other investigations, as well as allegations that an Alere division sought Medicare reimbursement for dead patients, according to the report.
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