A Fresno County jury has awarded more than $600,000 to a respiratory therapist who said she was wrongfully terminated at a sleep medicine center because she blew the whistle on Medicare fraud.

Tansi A. Casillas, 51, of Fresno, alleged that her employer, Central California Faculty Medical Group, eliminated her position at University North Medical Specialty Center in retaliation for the fraud complaints she made and for refusing to perform medical services outside the scope of her respiratory care license. Central California Faculty Medical Group is a multispecialty practice affiliated with UCSF-Fresno. It operates several medical offices, including University North Medical Specialty Center for pulmonary and sleep medicine.

In her lawsuit, Casillas said doctors left the responsibility to her to have face-to-face evaluations with patients on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a treatment that keeps the airways open for people who have sleep apnea and other breathing problems. The patient and Medicare were later billed for a doctor’s visit, even though the patient was not seen by a doctor, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, the faculty medical group’s compliance department investigated Casillas’ claims and found the medical group had “erroneously” overbilled Medicare but that no fraud had occurred. The overbilling resulted in the medical group’s reimbursing Medicare for the overcharges, the lawsuit said.

The jury found Casillas had been retaliated against for being a whistleblower and awarded her $131,200 in economic and emotional damages. And later they awarded her $500,000 in punitive damages.

Karen Rushing, human resources director for Central California Faculty Medical Group, said in an email Wednesday that the medical practice strongly denied wrongdoing.

The faculty medical group, represented by San Francisco lawyer Steven R. Blackburn, argued in a motion to dismiss the case, saying that Casillas was terminated for economic reasons that were aggravated by “her bad behavior in interacting with her coworkers.”

According to Casillas’ lawsuit, the medical group falsely accused her of violating the company’s conflict of interest policy as part of its retaliation for being a whistleblower.

Casillas had worked as a respiratory therapist for the faculty medical group since November 2008 and had received good performance evaluations before her whistleblowing, the lawsuit said. But she worked under a “microscope” after she refused to perform medical services outside the scope of her respiratory care license and refused to participate in unlawful billing to Medicare, the lawsuit said.

She first voiced concerns about Medicare fraud to Dr. Lynn Keenan, medical director for sleep medicine at North Medical Specialty, on April 8, 2013, the lawsuit said. Concerned that the issue had not been taken seriously, she called the faculty medical group’s compliance officer and the National Board of Respiratory Care on April 9, 2013.

The following day, retaliation began, the lawsuit said.

The jury found that Casillas’ disclosure about Medicare fraud and her refusal to participate in medical services outside the scope of her respiratory care license were contributing factors in the faculty medical group’s decision to discharge her. And the jury found the medical practice would not have discharged her for legitimate, independent reasons.