AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider in the USA has rejected the claims made by three former managers of AHF who filed Federal and Florida State Whistleblower Act claims against the company alleging illegal patient referral kickbacks. AHF is charged with defrauding Federal healthcare programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Health and Human Services HIV/AIDS grant programs of at least $20 million a year in false claims since 2010.Filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on April 3 under the Federal False Claims Act and Florida False Claims Act, the complaint is based on the personal knowledge and documentation of Whistleblowers Jack Carrel of Louisiana, Mauricio Ferrer of Florida, and Shawn Loftis of New York.
In a statement released by AHF today, AHF President Michael Weinstein said, “With more than sixty percent of the 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States currently not in regular medical care and treatment, it remains core to AHF’s mission to try and reduce that number. Not only has AIDS Healthcare Foundation done nothing wrong, our pro-active approach to finding and linking HIV-positive individuals to lifesaving care and treatment is critical to stopping HIV in this country. The fact that the Federal Government and the State of Florida have each already formally declined to intervene in the legal action brought on behalf of three former AHF employees speaks volumes about the merits of this case. Small incentives for linking and retaining people in care are mainstays of public health interventions—including by many CDC projects. We look forward to the opportunity to rebut these baseless charges in court.”
The company’s general counsel Tom Myers denied Wednesday that the company paid kickbacks or violated the law in any way, saying it would continue to care for thousands of HIV and AIDS patients around the U.S. while fighting the claims, reported CBS News.
“The federal government and state of Florida had a chance to deal with this case … and they declined to get involved which I think speaks volumes to the merits of the claim,” Myers said in a phone interview.
The plaintiffs all held management positions at AHF prior to their jobs being terminated– despite having federal protection under the False Claims Act – after they notified their supervisors about the company’s alleged unlawful practices.
