Sleep Apnea Testing Company Bilked Medicare For Millions: Feds

WHEELING, IL — The federal government has joined in on a pair of whistleblower lawsuits that accuse the founder and vice president of a local sleep diagnostics company of paying illegal kickbacks, defrauding Medicare and carrying out medically unnecessary procedures.

Gil Raviv, of Northbrook, is the founder and CEO of the Wheeling-based company Snap Diagnostics. Founded in 1996, it describes itself as "the leader in the development of technology for the detection of sleep apnea and the analysis of snoring patterns." Its home sleep tests use an unattended portable monitor and are covered by Medicare to diagnose sleep apnea – when medically necessary.

Since 2009, the company has collected nearly $9 million in taxpayer money from Medicare reimbursements, with "almost all of it the result of fraud and kickbacks," according to the suit.

Along with the company's vice president of marketing, Stephen Burton, of Chicago, Raviv directed the company to submit claims for patients to get second and third nights of sleep testing at home when the company knew one night would be fine. In fact, if patients were not receiving Medicare payments, the company would only offer one night of testing, according to the feds.

Raviv's company paid bonuses to sales people who managed to sell the unnecessary testing to providers and gave away free home sleep tests to doctors and their families "to induce referrals," according to prosecutors.

Once the testing was done, the suit alleges Snap's staff interpreted the results and gave them back to the referring doctors – unsigned. Then the doctors would sign the reports and bill as if they had interpreted the results themselves, according to the feds.

The lawsuit claims that Snap intentionally allowed physicians to fraudulently bill for the services in order to boost revenue and bring in more business by increasing referrals.

In 2014 and 2015, Snap Diagnostics was sued by whistleblowers under the False Claims Act, which allows private individuals to sue on behalf of the public and share the recovery. Their original complaints remain sealed.

But under the act, federal prosecutors can take over the suit and recover triple damages plus civil penalties. In October, the government announced it was intervening in the suits. A new complaint (below) was filed Monday.

Raviv denied any wrongdoing but declined to answer specific questions about the allegations.

"Contrary to the government’s claims, Snap has always complied with the law, provided a good product and a good service, and has never acted falsely in its dealings with the government," Raviv said, in an email to Patch.

Raviv did not deny writing any of the emails that are included in the complaint or specific allegations about unnecessary procedures, nor did he answer questions about how many former employees have sued him under the False Claims Act or what incentives Snap offered physicians.

Burton has not responded to a message seeking comment.

Snap Diagnostics, which has not been convicted or charged with any criminal offenses, continues to operate out of its offices at 5210 Capitol Dr. in Wheeling.

A Chicago Tribune investigation found that the Chicago area home health care market is among the most corrupt regions nationally. Feds estimate local home health agencies have collected more than $100 million of public dollars over the past five years. Fraud charges have been filed against 96 people over the past seven years, but at least 357 active home health companies in the area were linked to potential fraud by feds but never charged, according to the investigation.

This story has been updated with a response from Gil Raviv.

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