Maryland physician pays $663K to settle false claims allegations

A Maryland family practice physician agreed to pay the U.S. government $663,094 to settle allegations she submitted false claims to Medicare for fraudulent neurostimulator billings, the Department of Justice said April 19.

Njideka Udochi, MD, who owns Millennium Family Practice in Columbia, Md., used a peri-auricular stimulation — or "P-Stim" — to treat her patients' pain. P-stim devices, which are externally applied to patients behind their ear, provide electrical acupuncture. However, Medicare does not reimburse for acupuncture devices such as P-Stim.

Dr. Udochi's settlement agreement resolves allegations she used the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System code for a neurosurgical procedure of an invasive and extensive nature where the device is implanted into the patient to falsely bill Medicare for her use of the P-Stim device from January 2019 to May 2019. 

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