In 2013, a False Claims Act (“FCA”) complaint against Vanderbilt Medical Center (“VUMC’) was unsealed in Federal Court in Nashville, Tennessee. The complaint, originally filed by doctors-turned-whistleblowers, accused the hospital of deceptive billing practices dating back to the 1990s. One of the plaintiff-doctors was appointed to the hospital’s compensation committee,…
Remote heart monitoring companies agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) $13.4 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act (“FCA”) by billing Medicare for higher, more expensive, levels of cardiac monitoring services than requested by physicians. The settlement resolves allegations that the companies “up-charged”…
Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the resolution of its claims of healthcare fraud against Physical Therapy Institute, LLC for $7.1 million dollars. The lawsuit was commenced by two former employees turned whistleblowers, whose identities were kept secret, as a result of protections afforded to corporate “do-gooders” under the Civil…
A U.S. hospital chain, TeamHealth, agreed to settle allegations that a recently acquired subsidiary, IPC, violated the False Claims Act by “up-coding” Medicare and Medicaid for services that were not performed, or were exaggerated. The lawsuit settled by TeamHealth was initiated by Dr. Bijan Oughatiyan, a physician formerly employed by…
MedStar Ambulance Inc., a large Massachusetts ambulance company, will pay $12,700,000 dollars to settle False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations brought by a corporate “whistleblower.” The False Claims Act allows individuals with information about fraud on the government to bring suits on behalf of the United States to recover ill-gotten funds from contractors.…
This month, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that Shire Pharmaceuticals will pay $350 million to settle False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations that Shire and the company it acquired in 2011, Advanced BioHealing (“ABH”), used kickbacks and other prohibited sales methods to compel hospitals, Doctors, and their firms to overuse its product “Dermagraft.”…
The Lexington County Health Services District (“Lexington Medical Center” or “LMC”) located in West Columbia, South Carolina, has agreed to pay $17 million dollars to resolve allegations that it violated the Physician Self-Referral Law (the “Stark Law”) and the False Claims Act (“FCA”) by maintaining improper financial arrangements with 28…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a False Claims Act (“FCA”) settlement this week with Alpharetta, Georgia-based anesthesiology provider “Sweet Dreams Nurse Anesthesiology” for $1.1 million dollars. The company has agreed to pay the government to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare and Georgia’s state-run healthcare program.…
Once a start-up, now a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Acclarent Medical will pay $18 million to settle a False Claims Act (“FCA”) suit that alleged its medical sales division promoted its devices to physicians for “off-label” uses and provided those physicians “kick-backs” in exchange for their business. Acclarent Medical describes…
Travis Thams, the whistleblower who filed a False Claims Act (“FCA”) lawsuit on behalf of the United States and 28 states, stands to receive a substantial portion of the $8 million settlement reached with his employer, Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (“CSI”). Thams was recruited to CSI to act as a District…