Three Clinical Laboratories and Their Owner Charged With Defrauding Masshealth, Money Laundering and Illegal Kickbacks

BOSTON — Three independent clinical laboratories, their owner and holding company, an additional independent clinical laboratory and its owner, two laboratory marketing companies, and a Massachusetts physician have been charged in connection with Medicaid fraud, money laundering, and kickbacks involving urine drug tests that caused over $2 million in false claims to the state, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

The defendants were indicted Monday by a statewide grand jury on the

following charges:

Vipin Adhlakha, 46, of Westfield, Indiana

Medicaid False Claims (3 counts)

Larceny over $1200 by False Pretenses (3 counts)

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates (3 counts)

Conspiracy (4 counts)

Money Laundering

Soros Clinical Solutions LLC of Indianapolis, Indiana

Medicaid False Claims (3 counts)

Larceny over $1200 by False Pretenses (3 counts)

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates (3 counts)

Conspiracy (4 counts)

Aria Diagnostics, LLC of Indianapolis, Indiana

Medicaid False Claims (2 counts)

Larceny over $1200 by False Pretenses (2 counts)

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates (3 counts)

Conspiracy (4 counts)

Preferred Laboratory LLC of Worcester

Medicaid False Claims (2 counts)

Larceny over $1200 by False Pretenses (2 counts)

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates (2 counts)

Conspiracy (2 counts)

Alpha Labs, LLC formerly of East Providence, Rhode Island

Medicaid False Claims (3 counts)

Larceny over $1200 by False Pretenses (3 counts)

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates

Conspiracy

Mohammad Afreedi, 64, of Methuen

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates

Conspiracy

Lab USA, Inc. of Haverhill

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates

Conspiracy

George Powell, 62, of Londonderry, New Hampshire

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates (2 counts)

Conspiracy (2 counts)

Summit Diagnostics of Salem, New Hampshire

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates (2 counts)

Conspiracy (2 counts)

Adriana Sanchez a.k.a. Adriana Vaccaro, 40, of Shrewsbury

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates

Conspiracy

Eric Fromm, 55, of Norwood

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates

Conspiracy

Darrolyn McCarroll-Lindsay, 66, of Oak Bluffs

Medicaid False Claims (3 counts)

Kickbacks, Bribery or Rebates

Conspiracy

The defendants will be arraigned at a later date in Suffolk Superior Court.

These indictments are connected by a central defendant, Vipin Adhlakha, and the three independent clinical laboratories that he has owned, Alpha Labs, Aria Diagnostics, and Preferred Laboratory, which all submitted claims to MassHealth and MassHealth managed care entities for urine drug testing.

The AG’s Office alleges that Adhlakha and his companies engaged in kickback relationships with marketing companies OSA Exports and Summit Diagnostics to increase the number of urine drug tests referred to his laboratories in exchange for a percentage of collected insurance reimbursements in violation of the Massachusetts anti-kickback statute. The AG’s Office also alleges that Adhlakha and his companies engaged in a separate kickback relationship with Lab USA, which involved the referral of urine samples for testing in exchange for a percentage of collected insurance reimbursements.

In addition, the AG’s Office alleges that Adhlakha and his companies submitted claims to MassHealth that were not appropriately ordered by physicians or other authorized prescribers, had false dates on the claims, were for medically unnecessary routine quantitative testing, and/or were for medically unnecessary residential monitoring purposes. Under state regulations, laboratories may not bill MassHealth for tests performed at sober homes and shelters for residential monitoring purposes because such tests are not medically necessary. By fraudulently billing MassHealth and its managed care entities for these tests, the defendants are alleged to have caused over $2 million in false claims.

The AG’s Office further alleges that OSA Exports, Summit Diagnostics and Lab USA each conspired with Adhlakha and his companies to engage in  illegal kickback relationships, which resulted in thousands of claims submitted to MassHealth and its managed care entities. Adhlakha also conspired with Dr. Darrolyn McCarroll-Lindsay to conduct urine drug testing for residential sobriety monitoring purposes at Massachusetts sober homes.

These charges are allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

These charges are the latest actions by the AG’s Office to address MassHealth billing fraud and illegal kickbacks by urine drug screening laboratories. Last month, the AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division announced criminal indictments against a New Bedford independent clinical laboratory and its owner in connection with an illegal kickback and Medicaid fraud scheme involving urine drug screens at sober homes.

This matter is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Ali Russo and Matthew Turnell, as well as Senior Healthcare Fraud Investigator Shelby Stephens, and Investigators Will Welsh and Derek Bottari, all of the Medicaid Fraud Division. Investigations Supervisor Joe Shea and Managing Attorney Jennifer Goldstein both provided assistance throughout the investigation. The matter was referred by MassHealth, which along with the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Office of the Inspector General and the Department of Public Health assisted with the investigation.

The AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award. The remaining 25 percent is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.