United States v. Iqbal — June 2016 (Summary)

ANTI-KICKBACK LAW

United States v. Iqbal
No. 4:15 CR 343 CDP (E.D. Mo. June 13, 2016)

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri denied a motion for judgment of acquittal and for a new trial brought by an individual who was not himself a health care provider but who acted on behalf of doctors.  The individual stated to a home health agency that he was acting as an agent for various doctors, and if the agency agreed to pay him 50 percent of its profits on the work he referred, he could steer referrals from the doctors.  Afterwards, the home health agency received one Medicaid and one Medicare referral from doctors associated with the individual.  Unknown to the individual, the home health agency had been working with an undercover agent and the individual was indicted and convicted of soliciting kickbacks for referring Medicare and Medicaid patients to the home health care agency.

The individual argued that in order to prove he was guilty the government had to prove that the physicians making the referrals for home health services actually received the kickbacks.  The court reasoned that the individual was convicted of soliciting kickbacks, and it was therefore not necessary that any kickback had actually occurred.  Whether the doctor actually received any payment was irrelevant in determining whether the individual was guilty of criminal solicitation of a kickback.  As a result, the court denied the individual’s motion for judgment of acquittal and new trial.