United States of America et al v. Bluewave Healthcare Consultants Inc et al

Filing 574

ORDER AND OPINION denying 525 BlueWave Defendants' Motion to Reconsider Signed by Honorable Richard M Gergel on 8/9/2017.(sshe, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COU8TE1vrn CLERK'S OFFICE
DISTRICT OF SOUTH CAROLINA
2011 AUG - q p J 3
CHARLESTON DIVISION

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United States of America, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
ex rel. Scarlett Lutz, et al.,
Plaintiffs-Relators,
V.

Berkeley Heartlab, Inc., et al.,
Defendants.

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Civil Action No. 9:14-tYs-00t1~-£MG
(Consolidated wtfh R~:Tl ~fprµ1o-9"(3~EiMG:, and
9:15-cv-2458-RMG) 1 /L. L::STCH{ '.iC

ORDER and OPINION

________________.)

This matter is before the Court on a Motion to Reconsider (Dkt. No. 525) filed by
BlueWave Healthcare Consultants, Inc., Floyd Calhoun Dent, III, and Robert Bradford Johnson
(collectively, "the BlueWave Defendants"), asking this Court to reconsider its Order (Dkt. No.
509) excluding the proffered expert testimony of Jessica Schmor. The Government has filed a
response in opposition. (Dkt. No. 526.) For the reasons set forth below, the BlueWave
Defendants' Motion for Reconsideration (Dkt. No. 525) is denied.

I.

Background

On June 29, 2017, this Court issued an order excluding the proffered testimony of Jessica
Schmor, an expert the BlueWave Defendants engaged to opine on the "coding, billing and
reimbursement of the [Current Procedural Terminology] Code 99000 - handling and/or
conveyance of specimen for transfer from the office to a laboratory." (Dkt. No. 441 at 3.) The
BlueWave Defendants intended to have Schmor testify as to her opinion that Code 99000 billed
by physicians should not have resulted in financial damages and that the Government may have
inflated damages due to improper inclusion of claims. This Court determined that Schmor's
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proffered testimony that medical providers are not paid twice for the same services when they
receive a fee from a third- party laboratory and Medicare reimbursement for Evaluation and
Management services is not based on sufficient facts or data. (Dkt. No. 509 at 8.)
Schmor also challenged Eric Hines's expert opinion on damages to the extent that he
included Code 99000 in his analysis. The Court found that because Hines clarified in his rebuttal
that he did not use Code 99000 in his analysis, and Schmor said during her deposition that she
would have no opinion if this was the case, her opinion was inadmissible because it was
irrelevant and would not be helpful to a jury. (Id. at 509.) Schmor's opinion about the
Government's damages calculation was likewise inadmissible because it also assumed that Code
99000 was used in those calculations. (Id.)
II.

Legal Standard

In the Fourth Circuit, motions to reconsider are granted under a narrow set of
circumstances: "(1) to accommodate an intervening change in controlling law; (2) to account for
new evidence not available at trial; or (3) to correct a clear error of law or prevent manifest
injustice." Hill v. Braxton, 277 F.3d 701, 708 (4th Cir. 2002).

III.

Discussion

In their Motion to Reconsider (Dkt. No. 525), the BlueWave Defendants argue at length
that Ms. Schmor is knowledgeable about how the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
reimbursements are calculated and that, without her testimony, "the jury will lose the opportunity
to learn about coding, billing, and reimbursement policy." (Dkt. No. 525 at 6.) The Motion to
Reconsider does not point to any intervening change in the law, new evidence, or clear error of
law in this Court's order. Instead, it reargues issues that the parties previously briefed and that
this Court has already considered. A motion to reconsider is not the proper vehicle to notify that
Court that the Blue Wave Defendants disagree with the Court's previous order.
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IV.

Conclusion
For the reasons set forth above and in this Court's previous order (Dkt. No. 509), the

Blue Wave Defendants' Motion to Reconsider (Dkt. No. 525) is denied.

AND IT IS SO ORDERED.

United States District Court Judge

August _j_, 2017
Charleston, South Carolina

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