Mass.: Bone Marrow Donor Recruiting Cases Settled A bone marrow registry and medical laboratory company that used fashion models wearing high heels and short skirts to recruit potential donors will pay the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire $770,000 for engaging in an improper marketing practice, officials in both states said Thursday. The Caitlin Raymond International Registry and UMass Memorial Health Ventures Inc. paid models to help recruit potential registrants during donor drives at malls, festivals and sporting ventures, including Gillette Stadium and the Mall of New Hampshire. The practice drew sharp criticism from officials in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire, prompting an apology and a promise to stop using models from UMass Memorial Health Care Inc. in December 2010. According to a final judgment filed Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court, the registry and lab company - both subsidiaries of UMass Memorial Health Care - will pay restitution to Massachusetts consumers for any out-of-pocket payments they previously made for donor testing. They will also pay the state $500,000 for initiatives to improve health care services and to combat unlawful marketing practices and $20,000 to cover the cost of the state attorney general's investigation. They also agreed to not charge health plans more than $175 over the next five years for donor testing. FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2010 file photo, model Natasha Smahlei works at the Caitlin Raymond International Registry exhibit during the New England Business Expo in Worcester, Mass. Massachusetts officials announced Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012 an agreement that will require a bone marrow registry and medical laboratory company that used fashion models to recruit donors to pay $520,000. Attorney General Martha Coakley said Caitlin Raymond International Registry and UMass Memorial Health Ventures Inc. engaged in improper marketing by paying models to attract potential donors at malls, festivals and sporting venues. (AP Photo/The Telegram & Gazette, Paul Kapteyn, File) Close New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney Thursday announced a separate consent judgment in which UMass Memorial will pay the state of New Hampshire $200,000 in civil penalties for unfair and deceptive practices, $50,000 in attorneys' fees and donate $100,000 to the National Bone Marrow Registry. Delaney said UMass Memorial violated the public's trust by overcharging for testing done by its lab and paying commissions to employees who lured donors who had private insurance. "They lost focus of their charitable mission to save lives and became blinded by their pursuit of money," Delaney said Thursday. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said that beginning in 2007, UMass Memorial laboratories performed the vast majority of the DNA tests of individual samples collected by the bone marrow registry staff. The number of donor tests performed by UMass Memorial increased significantly, from about 7,000 in 2008 to more than 40,000 in 2010. The amount UMass Memorial charged for individual donor tests ranged from network rates of several hundred dollars up to more than $4,000. Officials said the tests actually cost about $50. The complaint says that in an effort to boost registration, both the registry and UMass Memorial Health Ventures improperly waived copayments and deductible amounts for the testing of potential donors, gave away free T-shirts and held free raffles for big-screen televisions and golf clubs. They also failed to disclose to potential donors the cost of the tests. The judgment prohibits the registry and lab from using models and paying bonuses for enrolling insured donors. "No health care provider should be allowed to use gimmicks and free gifts to increase the volume of services covered by health plans for their own financial gain," Coakley said in a statement. Douglas Brown, senior vice president and general counsel of UMass Memorial Healthcare Inc., said UMass Memorial "expressly denies that any of its practices violated any laws or caused harm to any person." He said UMass Memorial Healthcare has voluntarily agreed to discontinue the practices.