A federal appeals court says there was no evidence that Fresenius submitted false claims to Medicare, overturning a $82.6 million whistleblower suit brought by former employees. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a $82.6 million judgment against Fresenius (NYSE:FMS) Medical Care Holdings, finding that the company did not violate Medicare’s rules concerning dialysis claims. Renal Care Group, which was acquired by German-owned Fresenius in 2005, was accused of improperly billing the Medicare program for home dialysis supplies and equipment between 1999 and 2005 and was ordered to pay $82.6 million in damages. In 2010 Fresenius appealed that decision and said Renal Care Group had done nothing wrong. Last Friday, a 3-judge panel reversed a lower court’s ruling againt the medical device maker, and Judge Guy Cook wrote that Fresenius did not act with “reckless disregard of legal mandates.”
