Company: MDXG
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001376339-25-000009
Chunk: 94

Company: MIMEDX GROUP, INC.
Filing Date: 2025-02-26
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 94
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 medical device manufacturers, including the off-label promotion of products or the payment of prohibited kickbacks to doctors, violated the FCA, resulting in the submission of improper claims to federal and state healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In certain cases, manufacturers have entered into criminal and civil settlements with the federal government under which they entered into plea agreements, paid substantial monetary amounts and entered into onerous corporate integrity agreements with the government that require, among other things, substantial reporting and remedial actions, as well as oversight and review by an outside entity, an Independent Review Organization (“IRO”), at substantial expense to the Company.

Under the HIPAA criminal federal healthcare fraud statute, it is a crime to knowingly and willfully execute, or attempt to execute, a scheme or artifice to defraud any health care benefit program or to obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises, any of the money or property owned by, or under the custody or control of, any health care benefit program, in connection with the delivery of or payment for health care benefits, items or services.

There are federal and state laws requiring detailed reporting of manufacturer interactions with and payments to healthcare providers, such as the  Sunshine Act. The Sunshine Act requires, among others, “applicable manufacturers” of drugs, devices, biological products, and medical supplies reimbursed under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program to annually report to CMS information related to payments and other transfers of value provided to “covered recipients.” The term covered recipients includes U.S.-licensed physicians and teaching hospitals, and, for reports submitted on or after January 1, 2022, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists, and certified nurse-midwives. There is the risk that CMS or another government agency may take the position that our products are not human cell and tissue products regulated solely under Section 361, and thereby assert that we are currently subject to the Sunshine Act, which could subject us to civil penalties and the administrative burden of having to comply with the law. Additionally, the Sunshine Act, and its implementing regulations, require that certain manufacturers of drugs, devices, biological and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) report information related to certain payments or other transfers of value made or distributed to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors), certain non-physician practitioners (such as 

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