Precision Lens, the Bloomington-based eye lens distributor, has settled a federal kickback lawsuit for $12 million, a far cry from the $487 million in civil damages initially ordered in connection to a scheme that included flying doctors on private jets to Broadway musicals and the Masters golf tournament in Georgia. In February 2023, a U.S.
District Court jury found that the Cameron-Ehlen Group and Precision Lens majority owner Paul Ehlen, who died later that year, violated the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying ophthalmic surgeons to entice them to use its products in cataract surgeries reimbursed by Medicare. The alleged kickbacks included luxury trips, fishing, golf, hunting, sporting and entertainment vacations, often at exclusive destinations. The U.
S. Justice Department (DOJ) contended that for many of the trips, physicians were transported to luxury vacation destinations on private jets, including trips to New York City to see a Broadway musical, the college football national championship game in Miami and the Masters in Augusta. Precision Lens also sold frequent flier miles to its physicians at a significant discount, enabling them to take personal and business trips at well below market value, according to prosecutors.
Such kickbacks, the jury concluded, helped win the company millions of dollars of business and led to the submission of 64,575 false Medicare claims between 2006 and 2015. The jury found that Precision Lens' conduct resulted in m.