Forefront Dermatology S.C. and Henghold Surgery Center LLC have agreed to pay $847,394 to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting falsely coded Medicare claims for wound repair procedures, officials announced Wednesday.
Forefront operates a dermatology practice in Florida under the name Henghold Dermatology. Henghold Surgery Center, an ambulatory facility wholly owned by Dr. William B. Henghold, closed in 2023. Both entities performed wound repairs following Mohs micrographic surgery, a technique used to remove skin cancer, officials allege.
“Schemes that cause Medicare to pay for costlier services than were actually performed waste taxpayer funding, threatening the integrity of this federal health care program,” said Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Christian J. Schrank of the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).
According to the U.S. government, the two entities submitted inflated claims to Medicare by “upcoding”—using billing codes that overstated the complexity of the procedures.
Specifically, they allegedly billed simple linear wound repairs as more complex flap repairs and claimed smaller flap repairs as if they were larger, more expensive ones. This resulted in Medicare overpaying for services that were never actually performed at that level.