The owner of a Branford, Connecticut, medical laboratory has agreed to pay $145,720 to settle allegations that the company obtained Medicaid enrollment through false information and later submitted fraudulent claims.
Federal officials alleged that Tricia Conroy, owner of Coastal Diagnostics LLC, made “material misrepresentations” in a March 2024 application to participate in the Connecticut Medicaid program.
According to David X. Sullivan, US attorney for the District of Connecticut, Conroy stated that she was not related to a provider currently or recently enrolled in the state’s Medical Assistance Program. However, she was married to the owner of Genco Lab LLC, a reference laboratory operating from the same Branford address.
At the time, Genco Lab and owner Paul Conroy were under a payment suspension and investigation for alleged fraud. Officials said Connecticut Medicaid would have denied Coastal Diagnostics’ application had the relationship been disclosed.
The settlement is not an admission of criminal liability by Conroy or Coastal Diagnostics.
Enrollment disclosures create compliance risks for laboratories
Coastal Diagnostics began submitting claims for laboratory services after its enrollment was approved. Connecticut Medicaid later discovered the relationship between the two laboratories and terminated Coastal Diagnostics’ provider agreement.
“Based on the above, the US and the State of Connecticut contend that the claims submitted by Coastal Diagnostics were false and fraudulent,” Sullivan said.
The settlement covers claims submitted between March 6 and June 3, 2024.
The case highlights the importance of accurate ownership, relationship, and affiliation disclosures when clinical laboratories enroll in government healthcare programs. Even omissions on enrollment applications can expose laboratories and their owners to repayment demands, civil settlements, and exclusion from payer networks.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the enforcement action was intended “to take strong action to protect the integrity of our healthcare programs.”
“Healthcare providers who participate in taxpayer funded healthcare plans have an obligation to provide accurate and truthful information to the government,” Tong said.
Genco Lab and its owners separately paid $1.26 million in 2025 to settle allegations involving medically unnecessary urine drug testing claims submitted to government healthcare programs.
The settlement also follows a broader federal shift toward more aggressive Medicaid fraud enforcement. As The Dark Report noted in its June edition, the Department of Justice expanded its Medicaid fraud efforts after a $90 million autism-services takedown in Minnesota, prompting healthcare attorney Elizabeth Sullivan to warn laboratories to review their Medicaid referral relationships and test-ordering patterns before similar data-driven investigations reach the clinical laboratory sector.
Another Dark Report article published in July analyzed a recent fraud crackdown involving California hospice providers and offered further warning for independent laboratories. Broad, pattern-based investigations can sweep legitimate providers into enforcement actions before wrongdoing is proven, making strong documentation of medical necessity, physician orders, referral relationships, and marketing practices essential.
