Settlement With Conrado Castor, M.D. For Violations Of Stark Law
United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson announced today a settlement of a civil case against physician Conrado Castor, M.D., age 77, of Schererville, Indiana, for referring home health services patients to home health agencies owned by his siblings and their spouses, for which claims were submitted for payment to Medicare, in violation of the Stark Law.
The Stark Law provides that the government will not pay for designated health services if such services were furnished by an entity that had a financial relationship with an immediate family member of the referring physician because such financial relationships can cause overutilization of those services and compromise the physician’s professional judgment. The False Claims Act prohibits an entity from knowingly submitting claims for payment to Medicare for such services.
During 2008-2014, Dr. Castor referred numerous Medicare patients for the purpose of receiving home health care services to three home health agencies owned by his immediate family members: American Home Health Services, Inc., Adarna Home Health Care Services, Inc., and Amore Home Health Care Services, Inc. All three entities were owned by Dr. Castor’s immediate family members and billed Medicare for home health services for patients referred by Dr. Castor. Medicare paid over 400 claims totaling over $1.2 million to American, Adarna, and Amore for Dr. Castor’s home health care referrals.
Dr. Castor has agreed to pay $2,478,979 to resolve the United States’ claims under the Stark Law and the False Claims Act for claims submitted to Medicare totaling $1,224,489 by home health agencies owned by Dr. Castor’s family members.
“All medical decisions should be based on the patients’ best interests and not on the personal financial interests of referring physicians and their family members,” said United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson. “My Office will continue to enforce the Stark Law’s prohibition against physicians referring patients for health care services to entities they own or owned by their family members.”
The settlement was reached in a case against Dr. Castor filed by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana. The case was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Wayne T. Ault and Dirk D. De Lor.
