Dialysis medical supplies (MLive.com)Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The U.S. this week joined a whistleblower lawsuit against Germany’s Fresenius Vascular Care, Inc., alleging a branch of the medical company — which includes a facility on Staten Island — performed unnecessary procedures on dialysis patients at nine centers across New York City.

One of the offices listed in the suit, filed Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court, is Verrazano Vascular Associates at Access Care Physicians, located at 2025 Richmond Ave. in Bulls Head.

According to the complaint, the defendants have for years performed repeated, unnecessary vascular procedures on end-stage renal disease patients, also referred to as ESRD, receiving hemodialysis treatments.

“I saw firsthand how Fresenius put patients in harm’s way to support their bottom line,” said Dr. John Pepe, an attending physician at Richmond University Medical Center and Staten Island University Hospital, in a written statement. Pepe is one of the two physicians who presented allegations to authorities.

A spokesman for Fresenius issued the following statement in regard to the lawsuit.

“Our network of vascular centers is leading efforts to reduce total healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes by expanding access to innovative and less-invasive procedures,” the statement read. “Our policies are intended to result in a high standard of care and compliance with government regulations. We dispute the allegations contained in both the relators’ complaint and the US government’s complaint and intend to vigorously defend the litigation.”

A unit of the German-based company, Azura allegedly billed the procedures to Medicare, Medicaid, the Federal Health Benefits Program and TRICARE.

The lawsuit alleges that for several years, after a nephrologist had initially referred a patient with evidence of a clinically significant stenosis to an Azura facility, and the patient’s vascular access had been treated there, Azura continued scheduling periodic follow-up visits every two to four months indefinitely.

One of the offices listed in the suit, filed Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court, is Verrazano Vascular Associates at Access Care Physicians, located at 2025 Richmond Ave. in Bull’s Head. (Google Maps)

Typically, during those follow-up visits, Azura performs an angiogram on the patient — an X-ray using a chemical dye injected into the patient’s vessels — followed by an invasive surgical procedure called an angioplasty, the complaint alleges. It goes on to claim that the procedures are performed without evidence of problems in administering dialysis and without a referral by the patient’s nephrologist.

“Thus, the defendants have no reasonable basis for performing these medically unnecessary procedures and they are not reimbursable by the government health care programs,” said a spokesperson for Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, the law firm representing Pepe. “Nevertheless, defendants have submitted, or caused to be submitted, these fraudulent claims for payment and the government has, in good faith, paid them.

The complaint seeks damages and penalties under the False Claims Act.

“The conduct alleged in this case is egregious, as Fresenius not only defrauded federal healthcare programs, but also subjected particularly vulnerable people to medically unnecessary procedures,” said the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace. “This office will hold medical providers accountable for practices that needlessly expose patients to harm for financial gain at taxpayer expense.”

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