In December 2015, Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight and the U.S. Government settled a whistleblower action under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and the Anti-Kickback Statute with San Diego-based genetic testing giant Pathway Genomics Corporation (“Pathway”).

As part of the settlement, Pathway agreed to pay the U.S. Government, 28 states and the District of Columbia $4.1 million. The Relator, who was represented by Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight and Aashish Y. Desai of the Desai Law Firm, P.C., received a portion of the settlement.

The case alleged that Pathway, which provides lab-based genetic screening tests for a variety of conditions, violated its government contracts by offering physicians and medical groups a reimbursement program that induced and rewarded them for referring their patients to Pathway.

The states involved in the settlement included: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.