A Frederick, Maryland oncology practice and its owner have agreed to pay $1.45 million to resolve federal allegations that they billed government health programs for chemotherapy drugs that were never purchased, never administered, or improperly split from single-use vials.
Progressive Oncology and Hematology LLC and its owner and sole provider, Dr. Mouhamad Bazzi, have reached a $1.45 million settlement with the federal government to resolve False Claims Act allegations involving fraudulent billing to Medicare, Medicaid, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland and HHS-OIG, the practice engaged in at least three distinct billing schemes: seeking reimbursement from government health programs for chemotherapy drugs it never actually purchased — including drugs obtained at no cost through charitable organizations and pharmaceutical patient assistance programs — splitting the contents of single-use vials among multiple patients while billing each patient separately as though a full vial had been used, and submitting claims for drugs that had been prescribed but never actually administered to patients. The settlement resolves these allegations without any admission of liability by the defendants.
The conduct alleged here strikes at a particularly sensitive category of government health spending. Chemotherapy drugs are among the most expensive items billed under Medicare Part B and similar programs, and government reimbursement rates are calibrated to reflect the actual acquisition cost of those drugs. When a provider obtains a drug for free — through a manufacturer assistance program or a charitable donation — and then bills a federal program as though it had paid full price, the entire reimbursement amount represents a windfall at the government’s expense. The alleged vial-splitting scheme compounds that concern: single-use vials are approved and priced for use in a single patient, and billing multiple patients for the same vial’s contents means the government is paying for drugs that, in practice, cost a fraction of what was claimed. Together, these practices, if proven, would represent a systematic exploitation of billing rules designed to ensure that public funds track actual clinical costs.
No relator has been publicly identified in this matter, and no whistleblower award amount has been disclosed. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The $1.45 million recovery will be returned to the federal programs that were allegedly defrauded, including the Medicare Trust Fund, state Medicaid programs, and the VA health system.
Sources
- Maryland Oncology Practice Agrees to Pay More Than $1.4M to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations of Fraudulent Billing
- Maryland Oncology Practice, Doctor Agree To $1.45 Million Settlement Over Alleged Fraudulent Billing – The MoCo Show
- Maryland Cancer Doc Who Billed For Chemo Never Given Reaches $1.45M Settlement: Feds – Daily Voice