Camden Opioid Treatment Facility To Pay $3.15 M In Lawsuits: Feds

CAMDEN, NJ — A Camden opioid abuse treatment facility will pay $3.15 million in criminal and civil penalties in two federal lawsuits, according to Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna.

Khanna said Camden Treatment Associates LLC (CTA) agreed to pay $1.5 million in criminal penalties to resolve allegations that it violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and obstructed a Medicaid audit. The facility also entered in a civil settlement agreement to pay $1.65 million to resolve claims that it violated the federal False Claims Act by submitting fraudulent claims to Medicaid, Khanna said.

Officials filed a criminal information on Dec. 2 in Camden federal court. To avoid conviction, CTA entered into a three-year deferred-prosecution agreement and will adopt several compliance measures, Khanna said.

Paul Zoubek of Montgomery McCracken Walker and Rhoads, which was outside counsel for CTA, released the following statement to Patch:

“Today’s announcement resolves outstanding issues which occurred more than six years ago at Camden Treatment Associates’ former location and had no impact on patient care. CTA has a long-standing commitment to improving operations and has made significant investments over the past several years to become a stronger organization. CTA remains dedicated to serving the Camden community and providing its patients with exceptional care in its state-of-the-art facility.”

According to court documents:

Another company provided methadone mixing services for CTA and other substance abuse treatment facilities in New Jersey. CTA and this company were owned and managed by related parties, court documents say.

CTA did not have proper training or compliance programs to prevent and identify violations of federal laws including the Anti-Kickback Statute, officials alleged. Between 2009 and 2015, officials said, CTA had a kickback relationship with the other company.

"The second company paid the profits it made on CTA’s orders of methadone mixing to the related parties who owned and managed both companies," Khanna's office said. "As a result, CTA was induced to order services from the second company and to have CTA patients receive treatment using methadone mixed only by that company. CTA received more than $2.78 million from Medicaid for methadone administration services."

Officials say a separate criminal scheme saw CTA obstruct a 2016 Medicaid audit of the company's claims for payment.

The civil settlement resolved allegations that CTA failed to comply with certain federal and state regulations governing substance abuse treatment facilities, and that CTA submitted false claims to Medicaid.