“We take seriously any allegations of fraud or misuse by COVID-19 testing sites. CMS’s Center for Clinical Standards and Quality investigates these types of complaints and is aware of several alleged instances of misconduct by this company’s laboratories,” said Dr. Lee Fleischer, chief medical officer and director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality for CMS , he said. in a statement.
The lawsuit, filed by Keith Ellison in Hennepin County District Court, says the Minnesota Department of Health received complaints that people were tested for COVID-19 at pop-up testing sites across the state run by the CCC .
CCC has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.
Fleischer said, “CMS is actively investigating a number of complaints about multiple laboratories and testing sites linked to the Center for COVID Control,” adding that CMS “is taking our investigation and compliance as appropriate.” I continues.” and will take enforcement action. ,
According to a CMS spokesperson, in November and December, CMS conducted on-site complaint surveys at several testing sites and the Doctors Clinical Laboratory – the main laboratory used by the CCC.
“CMS has identified non-compliance and is awaiting compliance fee from the laboratory,” a CMS spokesperson said.
CCC announced last week that it would cease operations from January 14 to 22 because “abnormally high patient demand has impacted staffing resources, as has been widely reported, in a subset of our locations, our Affects general customer service standards and clinical goals.”
“The Center for COVID Control is committed to serving our patients in the safest, most accurate and most compliant manner,” CCC Founder and CEO Alia Siaz said in the announcement. “Unfortunately, due to our unprecedented recent demand for rapid development and testing, we have not been able to meet all of our commitments.”
The pause in operations will be used “to train additional staff on sample collection and handling, customer service and communication best practices as well as compliance with regulatory guidelines,” according to the centre.
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