FLORIDA, 09 March 2022, (TON): Comprehe-nsive Health Services LLC, located in Cape Canaveral, Florida, has agreed to pay $930,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by falsely representing to the State Department and the Air Force that it complied with contract requirements relating to the provision of medical services at State Department and Air Force facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is the Department of Justice’s first resolution of a False Claims Act case involving cyber fraud since the launch of the department’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative, which aims to combine the department’s expertise in civil fraud enforcement, government procurement and cybersecurity to combat new and emerging cyber threats to the security of sensitive information and critical systems.

CHS is a provider of global medical services that contracted to provide medical support services at government-run facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under one of the contracts, CHS submitted claims to the State Department for the cost of a secure electronic medical record (EMR) system to store all patients’ medical records, including the confidential identifying information of United States service members, diplomats, officials and contractors working and receiving medical care in Iraq.

The United States alleged that, between 2012 and 2019, CHS failed to disclose to the State Department that it had not consistently stored patients’ medical records on a secure EMR system.

When CHS staff scanned medical records for the EMR system, CHS staff saved and left scanned copies of some records on an internal network drive, which was accessible to non-clinical staff.