St. John’s Medical Center of Santa Monica, California has agreed to repay the federal government $5.25 million to settle claims that it overbilled Medicare. The government alleged that St. John’s “turbocharged” its claims to Medicare by raising charges more quickly than its actual costs rose. According to the government, the practice allowed St.
The Massachusetts Attorney General settled claims of off label marketing with medical device maker, Stryker Biotech. The state claimed that Stryker violated state consumer protection laws by falsifying documents from Massachusetts hospitals’ Institutional Review Boards in order to obtain get approval for the use of its bone growth products. Thus,
On August 19, 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., a business unit of Johnson & Johnson, stating that it is marketing two products without required clearance or approvals in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The warning letter was specifically directed at two (2) DePuy Orthopaedics’ products,
On August 20, 2010, it was announced that a Medicare and Medicaid managed-care company, WellCare Health Plans, Inc., reached a preliminary settlement to pay $137.5 million to settle a False Claims Act case which has been pending for the past four years. The allegations arise from claims that WellCare was responsible for schemes to avoid repaying overpayments which it received from Florida and New York’s Medicaid programs,
Late last month, a federal court in Virginia ruled that the government may proceed with a False Claims Act suit against a juvenile psychiatric facility run by subsidiaries of Universal Health Services, Inc. The suit alleges that the Marion Youth Center, a treatment center for adolescent boys, submitted false claims to Medicaid.
Last week, the United States Department of Justice announced that it would intervene in a False Claims Act suit against St. Jude Medical, Inc., alleging that the manufacturer of pacemakers and other heart devices participated in an illegal kickback scheme resulting in the submission of false claims for reimbursement to the government.
Last week, Tenet Healthcare acknowledged, in a regulatory filing, that the United States Department of Justice is investigating whether one of Tenet’s hospitals fraudulently billed Medicare for heart defibrillator implant surgeries. The D.O.J. probe dates to March 2010, when it issued a demand to Tenet under the False Claims Act seeking information and patient records detailing Tenet’s submissions for implantable heart defibrillator procedures as far back as 2002.
The Center for Diagnostic Imaging (“CDI”), one of the nation’s largest providers of diagnostic imaging services for doctors and hospitals, recently agreed to pay at least $1.2 million to settle an allegation of Medicaid billing fraud. CDI’s decision to settle followed on the heels of the federal government’s announcement last week that it intended to intervene and pursue the billing fraud issue on behalf of whistleblowers Dr.
Wilfred Van Gorp, widely known for his declaration that Oddfather Vincent (Chin) Gigante was truly crazy, a claim later soundly rejected based on recorded telephone conversations, was found by a Manhattan federal jury, along with Cornell University, to have violated the federal False Claims Act. According to the claims of the suit,
Orange County, California-based National Cardio Labs LLC has finalized a settlement with the government to pay $3.6 million to resolve allegations that the company knowingly submitted false claims for heart monitoring services. From January 1998 through February 2004, National Cardio allegedly billed Medicare, TRICARE, and the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program for event monitoring services,
If you are aware of any person, corporation or entity that you think may be violating the Federal False Claims Act or a State False Claims Act, contact us today.