November 6, 2023
Source: San Antonio Report
Photo Source: Unsplash,
A San Antonio medical group ordered to pay $8.1 million in damages in a Medicare billing fraud case last year has reported to state regulators that it will lay off 30 workers and close two of its largest locations.
But in its letter to the Texas Workforce Commission, Peripheral Vascular Associates (PVA) seems to indicate that the entire medical group, which according to its LinkedIn page employs more than 250 people in multiple locations across South Texas, is at risk of shuttering.
“Peripheral Vascular Associates is undergoing business difficulties that likely will result in the need to wind down the business, resulting in the end of all of its employees’ employment with PVA,” states the Oct. 25 letter.
The letter does not state the number of people who are expected to be laid off, but the commission’s spreadsheet listing 2023 layoff notices shows 10 employees at PVA’s Medical Center location and 20 at its downtown location.
A spokeswoman with PVA declined to clarify how many people would be laid off or the fate of the medical group.
“PVA remains committed to its patients and employees during this difficult time,” she wrote in an email. “For more information about PVA, please visit our website.“
Established in 1975, PVA bills itself as the largest single specialty vascular surgery group in Texas. In recent years, according to its LinkedIn page, the group added prosthetics, wound care, podiatry and, as of 2022, cardiology to its services. It is physician-owned, according to the secretary of state, by 11 of its doctors.
In 2022, a federal jury in San Antonio found in favor of three former employees of PVA who acted as whistleblowers in a case brought under the False Claims Act. The jury found that PVA billed more than 7,000 claims to Medicare for services that didn’t occur, according to court documents.
In January of this year, a federal court refused to set aside the jury verdict, according to Health Law Weekly. The PVA spokeswoman declined to answer a question about the judgment.
The letter from PVA to the workforce commission lists two locations that will close.
“PVA anticipates that the end of its business will result in the end of the employment relationship for all its employees … specifically at the following locations”: PVA Downtown at 610 N. Main Ave. and PVA Medical Center, 9153 Huebner Road.
The downtown location will close Dec. 4, according to the letter, while the Huebner Road location will “continue to operate past” that date. All affected employees have been notified of their anticipated separation dates, according to the letter, “which are contingent upon the anticipated wind-down of PVA’s business.”
The letter also suggests that “many affected employees will become employed with other [unrelated] health care entities as PVA’s shareholders relocate their practices elsewhere.”
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