HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The U.S. Attorney’s office has filed a civil case against a Hutchinson oncologist and the Hutchinson Clinic for misuse of chemotherapy treatments involving at least nine cancer patients and the filing of false claims to Medicare and Tricare.

In the complaint, the Federal Courts claim that Dr. Mark Fesen and the clinic performed medically unnecessary services and cancer treatment, most involving the drug Rituxan, for lymphoma patients. An audit of the clinic found widespread problems with Fesen’s chemotherapy regimens, particularly the use of Rituxan.

The complaint reports that, from May 2008 to December 2011, Fesen and the Hutchinson Clinic were responsible for at least 289,407 claims for Medicare for Fesen’s treatments and were paid over $30 million. Of those payments, $17 million were for chemotherapy and other cancer drugs alone.

During that same time, Fesen and the clinic filed more than 10,700 claims and were paid nearly $546,000 from Tricare for various cancer treatments. Fesen is also accused of billing Medicare 1,316 times for Rituxan administered to his patients, totaling more than $3.8 million.

The civil filing also says some patients were given Rituxan well beyond the usual two-year treatment period. One patient was given the drug for five years. That patient eventually died. The complaint also talks about fines levied against Fesen for his actions and numerous accounts of how he tried to go around various rules and protocols for treatment of cancer patients.

In another incident, despite being presented with direct evidence that Fesen was providing medically unnecessary treatment to Medicare beneficiaries — possibly even to patients with no current disease — Hutchinson Clinic took no action to investigate whether it had received improper payment from government insurers for medically unnecessary services to some patients who may not have even been sick.

After Fesen left Hutchinson Clinic in 2011, some of his patients started seeing another oncologist who encountered several patients who had been receiving chemotherapy from Fesen even though their conditions were more appropriately described as precancerous.

The civil action also holds the clinic responsible for not doing enough to stop Fesen’s actions despite concerns being expressed by others at the clinic.