Arizona-based urgent care provider convicted of fraud, fined $12.5 million
UCXtra Umbrella, LLC, which operated a network of urgent care centers around Arizona, pleaded guilty to health care fraud and fraudulent billing.
PHOENIX – A network of urgent care centers based in Arizona was convicted and ordered last week to pay $12.5 million on charges of health care fraud and engaging in monetary transactions derived from unlawful activity.
That fine is equal to the estimated loss that the illegal activity, which included fraudulent billing, inflicted on health insurance companies.
UCXtra Umbrella LLC, which ran under the name Urgent Care Extra, operated more than 30 urgent centers around the state, most of which were in the Phoenix and Tucson areas.
The company pleaded guilty to falsely inflating reimbursement rates from insurance companies by creating practices and billing procedures that led staff to overstate the complexity of the service that was provided.
Additionally, UCXtra encouraged the ordering of tests and procedures that were not necessary for medical reasons but would lead to higher bills and reimbursement rates.
“Greed-driven schemes like this one drive up health care costs and hurt all Americans,” United States Attorney Michael Bailey said in a statement. “This excellent investigation by the FBI and IRS will send a clear message to health care providers that fraudulent billing will be held to account.”
From 2012 through 2016, there were more than a million patient visits at Arizona locations.
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Comments
1 Comments
I was looking at a story about a home in Gilbert that was for sale. It was owned by one of the doctors that owned UCXtra Umbrella LLC. The info I found indicated that the LLC was convicted of $12.5 million fraud and was to repay the $12.5 million as part of the plea agreement. Did the LLC ever pay the money back? I found where one of the owners was required to pay approx. $65,000 in restitution and then only paid $7,500 back by the term indicated. Did he ever pay the rest of the money back?
It would be nice to see if the convicted parties ever pay back the money and if the convicted person ever spent any time in prison!!
Maybe you could do an article titled "The real deals" and let us know what the actual punishments and restitutions are in the cases that occur in AZ on a yearly basis.