Tagged: bone marrow testing

A little over a year ago, a Massachusetts bone marrow registry made headlines for hiring models in blue wigs and black skirts to attract prospective donors.  To make matters worse,  the registry was part of a scheme to charge insurance companies extremely high fees for lab tests.

Both New Hampshire and Massachusetts launched investigations of UMASS Memorial Health Care, the home of the registry and the testing lab, for deceptive practices.  Today, they announced a settlement involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.  But individuals touched by the scheme sense the hospital largely got off scott free.

The Attorney General Offices of New Hampshire and Massachusetts have settled  with UMASS Memorial  Health care in a scandal tied to bone marrow testing.

UMASS Memorial Health Care owned the testing lab that housed the Caitlin Raymond International Registry.  High testing fees triggered an investigation a bit over a year ago.

Under the settlement, UMASS Memorial agrees to pay a total of about $850,000.  About two thirds of that goes to Massachusetts where most of the bone marrow donors lived.  The hospital will pay New Hampshire about $250,000.

It also agrees to stringent recruiting practices going forward with a hard cap on testing fees.