The Opportunity Alliance, a homeless and substance abuse service provider based in South Portland, has agreed to a nearly $350,000 settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) related to allegations that the nonprofit submitted false drug testing claims.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine announced on Monday that the group agreed to pay $346,369 as part of the settlement, which resolves allegations that the service provider caused false claims to be submitted to Medicare and MaineCare for a period of about three years.
Federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint against The Opportunity Alliance in the U.S. District Court in Portland on May 22 of this year.
It was alleged in the complaint that between July 2018 and June 2021 Morrison Place, a residential treatment program run by The Opportunity Alliance for homeless individuals who have mental health or substance abuse issues, sent misleading urine drug requisition forms to their clients’ medical providers, and then used those forms to direct a third-party lab to perform an excessive number of presumptive drug tests on Morrison Place clients.
Morrison Place clients were allegedly ordered three drug tests per week under a “standing order,” without regard for the clients’ individualized needs, for up to a full year.
The Opportunity Alliance was alleged to have entered into an agreement with the third-party laboratory for the laboratory to bill MaineCare and Medicare directly for any urine drug tests performed on Morrison Place clients, despite the tests not being individually approved as medically necessary.
The DOJ brought the complaint against The Opportunity Alliance under the federal False Claims Act (FCA), as well as under Maine’s false claims statute.
According to the DOJ, the FCA provides that any person who “knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment or approval” or “knowingly makes, uses, or causes to be made or used, a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim” is liable for three times the amount of damages which the government sustains, plus a civil penalty for each FCA violation.
Federal prosecutors say The Opportunity Alliance cooperated with the investigation, and that the claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and that there has been no determination of liability on the part of the nonprofit.
