- Advanced Bionics Corporation—a manufacturer and distributor of cochlear implants—entered settlements with six AGs to resolve allegations that the company violated federal and state False Claims Acts by submitting fraudulent claims for reimbursement to federal healthcare programs including Medicaid.
- According to the settlements, Advanced Bionics allegedly submitted false information to the FDA regarding testing of certain components of its cochlear device systems in order to induce the agency to approve the devices. The AGs allege that any claims submitted to states’ Medicaid programs for the cochlear implant systems were false claims, as they were based on fraudulently-obtained FDA approval.
- Under the terms of the settlements, Advanced Bionics must pay a total of $12.6 million to the federal government and the settling states.