Government Joins Arriva Whistleblower Suit

The federal government has intervened in a False Claims Act case alleging that Alere’s Arriva Medical unit submitted or caused false claims to be submitted to the Medicare program for medically unnecessary glucometers and paid kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries in the form of free glucometers and copayment waivers. The Justice Department says that because Arriva, a mail order diabetic testing supply company, required all new customers to receive a new meter, regardless of whether they already had a functioning meter, Arriva allegedly routinely submitted false claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary meters. The government says the company allegedly made no meaningful effort to collect copayments from beneficiaries for the meters or diabetic testing supplies subsequently purchased from Arriva for use in connection with the meters.

The suit was filed under the False Claims Act’s whistleblower provisions.