Millennium Laboratories

Sorry, there isn't a Millennium board so I thought this may be a good place to get feedback on the company.

I'm looking to interview for a territory in the South, can anybody provide any information about the company and industry? Is it good money, good career move, quality of life, etc.?

 

I don't many specifics on the company, but it seems like they have been hiring a lot of new reps. Pay seems to be good, but I hear numbers all over the place.

 

I'd also be curious to hear any comments anybody has about working at Millenium. Anything?

 

Heard Millennium is being sued by the OIG along with John Doe 1-10,000. Anyone read that lawsuit? All Millennium customers (John Doe 1-10,000) could be under investigation for co-conspirating? Looks like Millennium is being sued by numerous individual states, The US government and some guy who must have been the whistle blower. Anyone else hear this?

 

A national lab promised doctors they could enrich themselves by as much as $2 million a year through a scheme that involved billing payers multiple times for the same urinary drug test, a whistleblower suit alleges.

Together with its clients, the referring physicians who participated in the scheme, the lab is being charged with one count of violating the federal false claims act and 15 counts of breaking false claims laws in various states and the District of Columbia. If convicted, the defendants face civil and criminal penalties, including treble damages for each false claim.

The lab, San Diego-based Millennium Laboratories, specializes in medication monitoring and markets urinary drug testing services to clinicians who treat chronic pain. The in-office testing can guide physicians in assessing whether patients are getting relief from their pain, as well as help cut down on abuse. The lab profits from performing screenings and confirmations.

The whistleblower, Robert Cunningham, who is described as working for a rival lab, passed away in December. The case is being brought in Massachusetts District Court by his estate.

Plaintiffs revised their 2009 complaint this year, paring it down from 60 pages by dropping some contentions, and Millennium was served a summons in connection with the 53-page amended complaint on June 14. The case was unsealed in March, after which the Justice Department filed a notice saying it won't intervene, omitting an earlier “at this time” caveat, making it seem unlikely the federal government will join the suit.

Millennium chief counsel Martin Price told MM&M that the plaintiff's allegation is "incorrect" and that his firm will be filing a motion to dismiss the suit “in the next 15-20 days.”

Under a physician billing model it promoted to attract physician referrals, “Millennium explains that by employing the use of a multi-class qualitative drug screen which uses a single specimen, the physician can bill both government and private health insurance companies for the multiple drug classes detected by the test kit,” the suit claims.

If true, the allegations would mark the latest corporate marketing misdeed in the pain category. In 2007 Purdue Pharma was charged with misleading the public about the safety of its bestselling pain drug OxyContin and ordered to pay $634 million in fines, one of the largest government-imposed penalties on a pharma manufacturer at the time. Three executives pled guilty and were excluded from participating in federal healthcare programs for 15 years.



Opioids like OxyContin and fentanyl are the most commonly prescribed pain drugs. Sales increased by more than 175% between 1997 and 2006, according to a recent study. These drugs are also widely abused. Almost half of long-term users may be misusing the drugs and placing themselves at risk for overdose and death, research suggests.



Medication monitoring can be an important tool for healthcare professionals who prescribe opioids for chronic pain, especially as treatment sales escalate. Diagnostics makers and the labs that carry out testing stand to gain.



But reimbursement needs to be appropriate. According to James Langley, former SVP of reimbursement for Accredo Health Group and now a consultant, a pattern of improper reimbursement can prompt payers to enact rules designed to minimize over-utilization, threatening patients' access.



Millennium promoted a document called “Gross Revenue by Insurance Category for Multi-Clin 11 Panel Test Kit” that claimed clinicians could gain revenue—as much as $2 million in a year—if they order between one and 20 urinary drug screens per day. The document suggests each physician can bill as many units as there are panels in the test kit, at least nine.



However, the reimbursement code suggested for use by doctors in the Millennium document—the CPT code 80101QW—is actually intended to be listed only once for an entire test kit. Results also must be confirmed by a second method. The lab's clients used the code to bill federal and other insurance programs for “multiple units of 80101QW per patient per day,” the suit argues.



“It's incumbent on any healthcare company to understand the site of service economics and to explain to and work with customers on things that can potentially impact practice revenue,” Langley said. What is potentially wrong is making that the primary marketing message. From the payer perspective, that can “run every risk of potentially driving an over-utilization of services for that test.”



Both the physicians and Millennium “knew or should have known that it would be fraudulent and abusive to bill government and private insurance programs nine (9) units for a test kit which can be purchased for less than $10; performs all tests in a single testing event; and takes less than five minutes to produce a qualitative result,” the plaintiff asserts, calling Millennium's physician billing model a “cleverly thought out scheme which attracts physicians to the conspiracy by providing them with greater income than their typical salary.”



Between Purdue's earlier misstep and now the Millennium case alleging the lab enticed doctors to use its medication monitoring services, other marketers in this chaotic category have some cautionary tales.



The case is USA et al v. Millennium Laboratories of California et al, 1:09-cv-12209-JLT, US District Court, District of Massachusetts.

 

Vanessa Kachedurian

 

Check it out! Looks like a bunch of labs are facing the same accusations. Apparently Calloway filed the suit against Millennium, and Ameritox, Avee, and Aegis.

Government looked into all of them and says there's nothing there. Guess Calloway is on their own when it comes to facing criminal charges.

Here's the Cover sheet for the case against Ameritox and the dismissal without prejudice:

United States District Court
District of Massachusetts (Boston)
CIVIL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 1:09-cv-12210-DJC
CLOSED
United States of America et al v. Ameritox LTD., et al
Assigned to: Judge Denise J. Casper
Cause: 31:3729 False Claims Act
Date Filed: 12/29/2009
Date Terminated: 07/05/2011
Jury Demand: Plaintiff
Nature of Suit: 890 Other Statutory
Actions
Jurisdiction: U.S. Government Plaintiff

06/28/2011 38 NOTICE of Consent to Dismissal Without Prejudice and Request for Order
Re: Partial Unsealing by United States of America. (Attachments: # 1 Text of
Proposed Order)(Gaudet, Jennifer) (Entered: 06/29/2011)


Same goes for Aegis and Avee... exactly the same...

 

Calloway? Why do you say Calloway is involved with this?

 

The article being passed around by Sales Reps (from above) says, "The whistleblower, Robert Cunningham, who is described as working for a rival lab, passed away in December. The case is being brought in Massachusetts District Court by his estate."

Cunningham's attorney, Robert Griffith, is also an attorney for Calloway.

Amazing - one lab attacking the entire industry at once. That's ballsy.

 

Pretty ballsy for a company to do when said company had it's owners et. al. taken away in handcuffs due to fraud claims...

 

You know what else is ballsy? Reps handing out the articles (and posting here) on Millennium while their own shop was under investigation for the same suit.

They are probably wetting their pants trying to figure out how they are going to ever show their face in a practice again and "esplain" how all that went down.

 

Ballsy? look into Avery Outdoor millennium compliance officer. I've already contacted the MA OIG office....

 

The "money" is trending downwards because reimpersement is going away. Managers are up your alley because they are pressured to make as much money NOW until it all disappears... They bought my contacts and I was able to make it work. I just can't wait to see what the company will do.

 

Reimbursements are going down.....mostly with Medicare and Medicaid. It is amazing how many small companies are springing up all over the place. Alot of Pain Docs are getting into the game too. How long do you think this industry has before reimbursements are nothing more than $10 per cup across the board?

 

What about Workmens Comp-there is a ton of money left in that market to the best of my knowledge. Commercial/Priviate payors are areas where you can do OK as well....Medicare and Medicad---hello, this is the US Healthcare system we are talking about.

 

So how is this company to work for? Same old song and dance as pharma? How is the management and the pay overall. Just curious and would appreciate any honest feedback. Thanks!

 

run for your life

 

Fill me in. Better or worse than Pharma?

 

I worked there for about 10 months. It was by far the worst place I have ever worked for. Management is horrible! People were getting fired daily. The HR Dept is a joke. I finally found another job... was will to take whatever came along just to get out! They pay really low, however they do offer 100% medical to employee and family....

I would RUN away if you have any other options!

 

I worked there for about 4 months and hated it.
Pain docs are mostly sleezebags and are often located in some of the worst neighborhoods imaginable. You're sitting in the waiting room literally next to strung out animals waiting for their next fix. I hated the message that we were instructed to disseminate ('wink wink' ) on the street about doctors potentially making a lot of money on reimbursements...etc. What happened to leading with the benefits of doing good medicine?
I felt like a prostitute and indeed managers are up your ass constantly.
I'd rather clean up dog shit than work there