Kentucky psychiatrist sentenced in kickback scheme involving Hempfield testing lab
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A Kentucky psychiatrist was sentenced this week to three years of probation and ordered to repay more than $24,000 to the Kentucky Medicaid program.
Varanise C. Booker, 67, admitted that she was a licensed psychiatrist who operated a medical practice, Family and Children Behavioral Health Services, in Louisville, Ky., that from 2011-‘13 referred patients for drug testing and related services performed by Universal Oral Fluid Labs, a clinical drug testing and drug screening laboratory on Willow Crossing Road in Hempfield.
Booker acknowledged in her plea that she did not document a legitimate justification for ordering certain drug tests and services, failed to document the results of certain drug tests and services performed by the lab in her medical files and failed to address the results of certain drug tests and services in the treatment of her patients.
Prosecutors said Booker received $843,000 in kickbacks.
In July, the former owner of the lab, William Hughes, 74, of Pittsburgh, was sentenced to 60 days in prison, followed by 12 months of home detention in connection with the unlawful scheme.
Hughes also was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, forfeit more than $750,000 in seized assets and make restitution of $1.67 million to the Kentucky Medicaid Program.
In 2019, four doctors agreed to settle allegations they received improper payments from the lab for referrals, including Dr. Robert Fetchero of Jeannette.