MILWAUKEE — A man from River Hills will spend 21 months in prison for paying healthcare kickbacks and pay over $2,000,000 in restitution and fines.
Justin Drew Hanson of River Hills and his co-defendent Mohammed Kazim Ali owned a Milwaukee-area clinical laborator called Noah Associates. Court records show that starting in 2017, the men paid kickbacks to the owner of a Milwaukee substance use treatment clinic in exchange for urine drug test referrals for Medicare and Medicaid patients performed by their lab.
Over three years, they paid over $400,000 in kickbacks for the tests that were not ordered by a doctor or even medically necessary for patients, and were paid by Medicare and Medicaid over $2.2 million for the tests.
United States District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller said Hanson’s criminal conduct was significant and detrimental because he stole “from every taxpayer citizen in the United States.”
“Mr. Hanson’s kickbacks resulted in Medicaid and Medicare – and taxpayers – repeatedly paying for unnecessary services,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Frohling. “Rather than bill the government for tests that patients truly needed, Hanson abused the Medicaid and Medicare programs for his own benefit. The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to working with its law enforcement partners to hold individuals who engage in these schemes accountable for their actions.”
His co-defendant Ali also pled guilty for paying healthcare kickbacks and was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment earlier this year.
