Exagen Agrees to Pay Over $650K to Resolve Kickback Allegations

By Denny Jacob

Exagen agreed to pay $650,143 to resolve allegations it paid specimen processing fees to referring physicians to induce their use of the company's laboratory tests.

The commercial-stage diagnostics company agreed to factual admissions that it paid certain referring physicians to complete blood draws for patients in connection to specimen processing agreements that Exagen entered into with those physicians, according to the Department of Justice.

Exagen billed federal healthcare programs, including Medicare, for tests it performed after receiving orders from the physicians, according to the settlement. The company did so even after becoming aware of a fraud alert in June from the Department of Health & Human Services' Office of the Inspector General.

DOJ said the settlement stems from allegations brought in a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower, who will receive 16% of the recovered settlement.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 17, 2023 14:35 ET (18:35 GMT)

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