United States of America v. Heuser Health

Louisville, Kentucky civil litigation lawyers represented the Defendant accused of defrauding the United States.

Reported by Kent Morlan

Heuser Health, a Louisville-based provider of at-home wound care servicesviolated the False Claims Act by overbilling Medicare and TRICARE for costly skin substitute products. This settlement is part of a broader investigative initiative known as “Operation Skin Scam,” aimed at uncovering fraud schemes involving expensive skin substitute materials and holding accountable those who attempt to exploit them.

Skin substitutes are advanced bioengineered or tissue-derived materials used to replace, imitate, or regenerate damaged skin. Heuser Health used these products to treat Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries suffering from chronic and acute wounds. Federal rules required Heuser Health to bill these products based on their actual invoice price.

Heuser Health allegedly submitted, or caused to be submitted, claims using invoice amounts higher than the company’s true purchase prices, leading to inflated reimbursements paid by Medicare and TRICARE.

Heuser agreed to pay $2,646,186.72 to settled the claims made against it without admitting liability.

The claims alleged by the United States are allegations only. There was no determination of liability.