Office of the Attorney General
Williamsburg Chiropractic Clinic Agrees to Pay More than $650,000 to Settle Civil Claims

Attorney General Jack Conway, Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG) jointly announced today a settlement with a Williamsburg, Ky. chiropractic clinic over claims that the clinic improperly billed Medicare and Medicaid.

As part of the settlement, Kenneth Ho and Ana Moreno, the owners of Ho Medical Clinic, agreed to pay the U.S. Government $650,000 for improperly billing the government for diagnostic and physical therapy services from February of 2003 through February of 2009.

A former Ho Medical employee sued the company using the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act, informally known as "whistleblowing." The False Claims Act is a federal law that allows individuals to file lawsuits against anyone who defrauds U.S. Government programs. If the U.S. receives money as a result of the whistleblower's lawsuit then the plaintiff(s) (the whistleblower) may receive a portion of the recovered money. In this case, the plaintiff will receive $131,000 of the recovered money and an additional $11,400 from Ho and Moreno representing attorney fees.

The other $525,000 of the settlement money will be sent back to the Medicare and Medicaid trust fund. The investigation was conducted by the Attorney General's Office, the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Sparks handled the litigation on behalf of the U.S. Attorney's Office.