Twin Cities Dermatologist Pays To Settle False Claims Act: Feds

BURNSVILLE, MN — A local dermatologist practice will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in a settlement after federal authorities accused the company of a fraud scheme. Acting United States Attorney Gregory Brooker announced that Skin Care Doctors and its founder and CEO, Michael J. Ebertz, M.D. have agreed to pay $850,000 to the United States to resolve allegations of false claims submitted for certain dermatology procedures in violation of the False Claims Act.

Skin Care Doctors has offices in Burnsville, as well as Edina, Orono and St. Cloud, according to the company’s website.

The government argued that between January 2008 and December 2015, Skin Care Doctors and Ebertz submitted false claims for payment to Medicare. The billing spanned four different areas, including billing Medicare for free samples of a phototherapy drug and upcoding office visits, lesion removal procedures and phototherapy services.

In a statement, assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Bildtsen said, “Medicare is a public trust. This resolution against both the company and its CEO safeguards that trust and restores needed funds to Medicare. This Office is committed to taking necessary actions to rectify inflated billing to federal programs.”

The settlement resolves a civil lawsuit brought by a whistleblower, a doctor who formerly worked with Ebertz, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. The False Claims Act allows private parties to bring suit on behalf of the government for false claims and to share in any recovery.

Authorities say such whistleblowers bring fraud schemes to light that might otherwise go undetected.

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