(LEGAFI) -- The Justice Department announced it has joined a whistleblower lawsuit against Bay Area Sleep Associates LLC, dba SomnoMedics LLC, and its owner, Edward Killmer Jr. The whistleblower suit alleges the defendants violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting, or causing to be submitted, to the government false claims for payments from multiple federal health care programs.

The SomnoMedics whistleblower lawsuit alleges that beginning around 2004, the defendants hired unlicensed sleep technicians to perform sleep tests at one or more of their facilities. Medicare regulations require that diagnostic testing services performed at independent diagnostic testing facilities such as SomnoMedics must be performed by a technician licensed or certified by a state or national credentialing body in order to be reimbursed by Medicare.

The whistleblower lawsuit alleges that SomnoMedics utilized unlicensed sleep technicians to perform sleep tests on Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries, but knowingly requested payment for these services despite being fully aware that SomnoMedics failed to comply with federal program reimbursement regulations.

The SomnoMedics whistleblower lawsuit was originally filed under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA) by William Revels, a former sleep study technician.  Under qui tam provisions, private citizens can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of the recovery if the government intervenes and a recovery is made.  Under the FCA, the United States may recover three times the amount of its losses plus civil penalties.  

The government’s complaint against SomnoMedics is part of the United States’ emphasis on combating health care fraud and another step for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009.