DermTech to Pay Up to $5 Million to Settle Medicare False Claims Allegations for Unreliable Skin Cancer Tests
DermTech Inc., a skin cancer testing company formerly headquartered in San Diego, has agreed to a settlement of up to $5 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to the Medicare program. The company is accused of violating the False Claims Act by knowingly billing Medicare for unreliable skin cancer tests. These tests reportedly had significant quality control issues. Specifically, from October 2022 to March 2023, DermTech billed Medicare for tests conducted after switching to an unvalidated positive control range for one of the key melanoma markers, making it impossible to confirm the accuracy of results. Additionally, from January 2020 to February 2022, the company billed Medicare for tests that lacked sufficient patient RNA to be properly analyzed but still generated results. Despite concerns raised about these tests, DermTech neither retracted the results nor adequately refunded Medicare. The settlement includes claims brought under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by... 
