The allegations against Coastal center on its use of quantitative drug tests. According to the DOJ, it’s appropriate to use quantitative drug tests to identify and count particles of illicit drugs in a patient’s urine only if there is reason to doubt the more general and cheaper qualitative drug test results. The government alleges Coastal performed and billed for quantitative drug tests for all patients, regardless of the results of the qualitative test.
A review of claims data prompted the DOJ’s investigation. Each time Coastal billed for a qualitative screen it also bill for a quantitative screen, making it a statistical outlier.
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