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Hospital Fraud

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to hospital fraud. You may also be interested in our pages:

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November 2, 2020

Hospital system Memorial Health Services will pay a total of $31.5 million after self-disclosing that it overcharged California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, for outpatient prescription drug reimbursements under the 340B Drug Pricing Program.  Memorial Health billed Medi-Cal for outpatient drugs at its usual and customary rate, rather than the lower “actual acquisition costs,” as required under the 340B Drug Pricing Program. California will receive $18.9 million of the settlement, and the federal government will receive $12.6 million.  Cal; CD Cal

September 28, 2020

Lakeway Regional Medical Center, LLC, together with affiliated parties Surgical Development Partners LLC, Surgical Development Partners of Austin Enterprises LLC, G. Edward Alexander, Frank Sossi, and John Prater, will pay $15.3 million to resolve allegations under the False Claim Act arising from the development of the hospital.  Defendants were alleged to have made numerous false statements in applying for a federally-insured mortgage loan for construction of the hospital, including overstating physician support for the hospital and understating other credit risks.  Specifically, while some investors had requested refunds, defendants delayed making those refunds in order to overstate cash on hand, and, after the mortgage funds were obtained, defendants distributed them in contravention of FHA requirements.  The hospital later defaulted on the loan. The government previously settled with other defendants.  DOJ 

September 28, 2020

Lakeway Regional Medical Center, LLC will pay $1,119,177 to resolve allegations that the hospital submitted false claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs in the form of claims for payment for services that were based on referrals from doctors offered investment in a joint venture to purchase and then lease the hospital back to LRMC.  The government alleged that such an arrangement was unlawful under the Anti-Kickback Statute.  The case was initiated by a qui tam complaint filed by Dr. Robert Van Boven and Sharon Van Boven.  USAO WD TX

Integra Med Analytics Loses Battle to Establish New Breed of Corporate Whistleblower Outsiders, Write Mary Inman and Max Voldman in RACMonitor

Posted  06/10/20
attorney headshots of Mary Inman and Max Voldman
Constantine Cannon whistleblower attorneys Mary Inman and Max Voldman updated their earlier reporting in RAC Monitor regarding the False Claims Act case brought by Integra Med Analytics against Texas-based hospital chain Baylor Scott & White.  At the end of May, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Texas district court opinion dismissing the case. As we have earlier written, Integra alleged that the...

Financial Pressures on U.S. Hospitals, Combined with New Funding, Increase Risk of Medicare and Medicaid Fraud

Posted  05/22/20
Multistory hospital building set amid trees
Hospitals are an institution we might have expected to be prepared for a healthcare crisis.  It is their job, after all, to provide emergency and intensive healthcare.  In fact, however, the COVID-19 crisis has put enormous pressures on hospitals.  With such new pressures come new risks of healthcare fraud at hospitals.

The Financial Pressures on Hospitals in the COVID-19 Crisis

Against the backdrop of heroic...

April 22, 2020

Hospital chain Centra Health Inc. and physician group Blue Ridge Ear, Nose, Throat and Plastic Surgery, Inc., will pay a total of $9.35 million to resolve claims that they entered into an improper financial arrangement in violation of the Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Law, and False Claims Act.  The improper agreements included guaranteed physician compensation, physician compensation arrangements that took into account the value of referrals, and financial arrangements with physicians that were not memorialized in a written and executed contract.  A former Blue Ridge ENT physician, who filed a qui tam action regarding the improper arrangements, will receive an undisclosed share of the settlement.  USAO WD VA

Top Ten Healthcare Fraud Recoveries of 2019

Posted  01/24/20
Consistent with the trend in prior years, the bulk of the Justice Department’s fraud and false claims recoveries in 2019 stemmed from healthcare fraud matters.  And again, most of the funds recovered arose from cases originated by whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Not surprisingly, seven of the top ten spots in our list involved false claims act lawsuits against drug companies...

November 15, 2019

California healthcare system Sutter Health, its hospital the Sutter Memorial Center Sacramento, and the Sacramento Cardiovascular Surgeons Medical Group, Inc., will pay a total of $43.12 million to resolve allegations that the entities violated the Stark Law and improperly double-billed Medicare.  Specifically, Sutter Memorial will pay $30.5 million to resolve charges of wrongfully billing Medicare for services referred to the hospital by Sac Cardio, with whom the hospital maintained improper financial arrangements that overcompensated the Sac Cardio physicians.  In addition, Sutter will pay $15.12 million to resolve allegations that it paid physicians compensation at rates that exceeded fair market value, leased office space to them at below-market rates, and reimbursed them for expenses at inflated rates.  In addition to the Stark Law violations, the settlement also resolved allegations that Sac Cardio submitted duplicative bills for physician assistant services (Sac Cardio will pay $500,000 to resolve these claims), and allegations that several Sutter ambulatory surgical centers had double-billed Medicare for radiological services that had actually been provided, and billed for, by a separate entity.  DOJ reported that allegations against Sutter Memorial and Sac Cardio were first made in a qui tam lawsuit brought by Laurie Hanvey, who will receive $5.9 million from the settlement, and that Sutter Health self-disclosed other conduct at issue in the settlement. DOJ; USAO ED Cal; USAO ND Cal

November 13, 2019

Vibra Healthcare, LLC and related entities, which operate freestanding acute medical rehabilitation hospitals and long term acute care hospitals nationwide, will pay $6.25 million to resolve allegations that Highlands Rehabilitation Hospital in El Paso, Texas, which was operated by Vibra, submitted false claims to Medicare.  Specifically, Vibra was alleged to have billed for services that did not meet conditions of payment, including requirements that inpatient rehabilitation facilities provide an intensive level of services to patients.  The case was initiated by a qui tam complaint filed by Thomas A. FlorenUSAO WDTex
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