Brentwood-based Affinity Acupuncture, LLC, has agreed to pay $250,000 to the United States to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act (FCA) after submitting false claims to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
According to a Department of Justice news release, the alleged false claims were submitted from January 2015 through December 2020, which saw monetary reimbursements from the VA to Affinity for the claims.
The investigation into the company followed a December 2021 internal audit by the VA’s Office of Inspector General, which found that the VA made an estimated $137 million in improper payments for acupuncture services nationwide during the fiscal years 2018 and 2019.
“The VA audit revealed that millions of dollars were improperly paid to non-VA acupuncture providers around the country for procedures that were not authorized, not allowed as coded, or lacked supporting documentation,” United States Attorney Henry C. Leventis said. “This settlement is in keeping with our commitment to working with the VA and its Office of Inspector General to identify, and, whenever possible, recover improper payments.”
The payment settles civil claims without the need for a court to determine liability.
“VA’s Community Care programs provide veterans and their families the ability to obtain critical healthcare services locally,” Special Agent in Charge Kim R. Lampkins of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Mid-Atlantic Field Office said. “Today’s civil settlement demonstrates the VA OIG’s ongoing efforts to protect the integrity of VA’s programs and services.”