An urgent care clinic with locations in Pasco and Richland will pay $2.8 million to settle claims it overbilled Medicare and Medicaid for diagnostic testing. 

Health First Urgent Care reached the settlement following an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern Washington, the state Attorney General’s Office and Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, according to a release. 

Officials alleged Health First was improperly billing for individual tests when they were conducted as a panel, while also billing for tests that were more expensive and not medically necessary for individual patients. 

“It is critical for providers to bill Medicare, Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded health care programs lawfully and accurately,” said Jeffrey C. McIntosh, acting special agent in charge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, in a statement. “The submission of false laboratory testing claims diverts key resources away from those who rely on them, including the elderly and low-income families.” 

According to the settlement agreement, a False Claims Act claim arose from allegations that Health First Urgent Care fraudulently billed for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) respiratory and urinary tract infection panel testing. These panel tests were a predetermined group of medical tests used to test for multiple pathogens from a single sample obtained from a patient. 

Settlement agreement details were not released.