Whistleblower News From The Inside -- December 8, 2016

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

South Florida hospital settles FCA suit for $12M – South Miami Hospital agreed to pay $12M to settle allegations it submitted false claims to federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary electrophysiology studies. Two South Miami Hospital doctors who blew the whistle will receive $2.7M of the settlement. USAO Southern District of Florida

Venezuelan state oil company seeks compensation in bribery case – Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, asked a US court to order two businessmen—who paid bribes to secure contracts and pled guilty to FCPA criminal charges—to compensate it for a bribery scandal that cost the company $600M. Reuters

Florida orthopedic surgery practice settles FCA suit for $4.4M – Florida-based Southeast Orthopedic Specialists resolved allegations it billed Medicare and other federal healthcare programs for services that were neither medically necessary nor reasonable, and for fraudulent use of lucrative and unnecessary modifiers. USAO Middle District of Florida

Michigan doctor sentenced to five years of probation for healthcare fraud – Michigan physician Dr. Chidozie Ononuju was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay over $400K in restitution and relinquish his license to write prescriptions for schemes involving the submission of claims for unnecessary pregnancy tests (including for male patients) and billing for unnecessary drug screenings. Michigan Live

Iowa dental clinics settle FCA suit for $300K – Iowa-based Lifepoint Dental Group settled allegations it billed Medicaid for both medically unnecessary and unperformed services; two former Lifepoint employees brought the case. USAO Northern District of Iowa

Feds bring FCA suit against New Jersey diagnostic testing facility – Mobile Diagnostic Testing of New Jersey is being sued for knowingly submitting false claims to Medicare for thousands of tests never rendered. USAO New Jersey