MARCH 4, 2024. Brynwood Myofascial Therapy LLC (Brynwood), an Illinois-based skilled therapy provider, and both its current owner, Malgorzata Zasadny and its former owner, Marla Monge, will pay $1.5 million to resolve allegations they submitted false claims to Medicare. The whistleblower who brought the case will receive 17% of the settlement amount.
Brynwood offers a specific kind of therapy, myofascial release therapy, designed to alleviate connective tissue restrictions, restoring the client’s motion and relieving pain. The United States alleged that Brynwood, Zasadny, and Monge submitted fraudulent bills to Medicare on several occasions since its opening in 2012. Brynwood, Zasadny, and Monge repeatedly billed Medicare for services while the provider was not in the country, for therapy services that were not performed by licensed practitioners, and for services when there were no licensed therapy professionals on site. Additionally, they submitted bills under the incorrect codes to avoid Medicare caps on specific services. Caps are imposed by Medicare to limit how much it pays for a patient’s treatment. Submitting false claims to get around these caps allowed Brynwood to improperly continue to receive money from Medicare. These actions threaten the well-being of patients, damage the integrity of government programs, and hurt taxpayers.
Brynwood will pay $858,563.10, Zasadny will pay $95,395.90, and Monge will pay $615,345 to resolve these claims brought by whistleblower Penny Mcguire, a former employee of Brynwood. McGuire will receive over $266,700 for her efforts in the case.
If you would like to report healthcare fraud, including upcoding, Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE fraud, you can contact attorneys at Tycko & Zavareei LLP. Eva Gunasekera and Renée Brooker are former officials of the United States Department of Justice and prosecuted whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act. Renée served as Assistant Director at the United States Department of Justice, the office that supervises False Claims Act cases in all 94 United States District Courts. Eva was the Senior Counsel for Health Care Fraud. Eva and Renée now represent whistleblowers. For a free consultation, you can contact Renée at [email protected] (tel.: 202-417-3664) or contact Eva Gunasekera at [email protected]. You can also go to Tycko & Zavareei LLP’s website for whistleblowers to learn more at www.fraudfighters.net.