FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CIV THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1994 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER PAYS U.S. $90,000 TO SETTLE DISPUTE WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Louisville, Kentucky, home health care company will pay the United States $90,000 for participating in a scheme to increase the volume of Medicare claims so it could boost reimbursements to itself, the Department of Justice said today. Assistant Attorney General Frank Hunger of the Civil Division said the settlement with Respro Home Care, which provides medical equipment such as oxygen supplies to patients referred to home care, stemmed from the firm's 1987 contract with Special Healthcare Services and "investment" partnerships Special Healthcare offered Louisville doctors. Under the contract, Respro forwarded Medicare reimbursements generated by the partnerships to Special Healthcare, which returned 85 percent of the reimbursements to Respro, then distributed the remainder to the physician partnership that generated the referral after deducting a portion for itself. The partnerships derived their income from home health care referrals, including Medicare, according to an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. Thus, the Inspector General said, the arrangement's purpose was to increase the volume of referrals, which, in turn, increased reimbursements for the partnerships and Respro. Special Healthcare and the physician partnerships were owned and/or controlled by National Industries, doing business as CareTenders. Today's agreement settles claims the Department could have filed against Respro under the False Claims Act. ##### 94-560