HONOLULU — Hawaii will receive $101,416 in restitution from a national drug-testing laboratory accused of submitting false Medicaid claims.

What You Need To Know

  • The restitution is part of a $27 million settlement between Precision Toxicology LLC (doing business as Precision Diagnostics) and the United States, the District of Columbia and 43 states
  • Precision is a national toxicology laboratory that provides urine drug testing, primarily for substance use disorder and pain management providers
  • The settlement resolves allegations that between Jan. 1, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2022, the company submitted Medicaid claims based on a policy it had developed of using “non-allowable” blanket orders for urine drug testing without any physician making an individualized determination that such testing was medically necessary or reasonable for each instance
  • Hawaii’s share of the restitution is directly related to identified instances wherein Precision had double billed the Hawaii Medicaid Program

The restitution is part of a $27 million settlement between Precision Toxicology LLC (doing business as Precision Diagnostics) and the United States, the District of Columbia and 43 states.

“We are committed to aggressively pursuing those who ignore medical necessity in favor of increasing profits at the expense of patients, taxpayers, and Hawaii’s critical healthcare programs,” said Landon Murata, director of the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Precision is a national toxicology laboratory that provides urine drug testing, primarily for substance use disorder and pain management providers. The settlement resolves allegations that between Jan. 1, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2022, the company submitted Medicaid claims based on a policy it had developed of using “non-allowable” blanket orders for urine drug testing without any physician making an individualized determination that such testing was medically necessary or reasonable for each instance.

Over the same period, Precision allegedly provided free point-of-care UDT cups to physicians in exchange for UDT referrals, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b(b).

Hawaii’s share of the restitution is directly related to identified instances wherein Precision had double billed the Hawaiʻi Medicaid Program.

A National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units team investigated the allegations in conjunction with the Department of Justice and United States Attorney’s offices in Colorado, Connecticut, and Maryland. The NAMFCU Team included representatives from the Offices of the Attorneys General for the states of Florida, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland and Virginia.  

Murata and Med-QUEST division administrator Judy Mohr Peterson entered the settlement agreement on behalf of the state of Hawaii.

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.