Mansfield Company Overcharges For Connecticut Medicaid: Feds

MANSFIELD, MA — A Mansfield company agreed to pay a $1.5 million settlement Thursday, after federal and state officials said the company charged Connecticut Medicaid recipients 19 times more for drug tests than other customers. According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Clinical Science Laboratory, Inc., a company that provides urine drug testing services for substance abuse patients, enrolled in the Connecticut Medicaid program.

Federal and state officials said the company's owners, Stanley Elfbaum, and Louis Amoruso, charged Connecticut patients $38 per test, while others had to pay as little as $2 for the drug tests. State and federal law forbids charging people more than the lowest price the laboratory charges others for the same or similar services.

"Clinical Science Laboratory was billing the state's Medicaid program 19 times what it charged to other customers — diverting taxpayer resources away from other critical needs," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement. "Connecticut has been disproportionately devastated by the opioid epidemic, and we must ensure we are getting the absolute most out of every treatment dollar spent."

This is the second time Clinical Science Laboratory has faced allegations of overcharging. In 2010, the company paid a $525,000 settlement in Massachusetts for the same thing.

The Connecticut case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney General's office.