Four cardiac-monitoring companies and one executive agreed to pay more than $13.4 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that they billed Medicare for higher and more expensive levels of cardiac-monitoring services than had been ordered by doctors. The U.S. Attorney's Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark, NJ announced the settlement on June 26.
According to documents filed in the case and the settlement, the companies and one executive, Joseph A. Bogdan, knowingly designed their online enrollment process for doctors to select telemetry for all Medicare patients. Telemetry provided the highest rate of reimbursement for the companies, which meant doctors who requested less-expensive services were provided with the more-expensive service. As a result, the company received higher Medicare reimbursements.
The allegations were raised in a lawsuit filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act. Pursuant to the act, private plaintiffs with information about fraud may bring civil actions on behalf of the government and may also share in the recovery. In this case, the lawsuit was filed in the District of New Jersey. The Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office routinely investigates qui tam actions and remains a leader in prosecuting healthcare fraud. Whistleblower counsel are able to file anywhere in the country where venue exists, and this case demonstrates the unit's aggressive pursuit of national cases. Since 2010, the unit has recovered more than $1.32 billion in healthcare and government fraud settlements, judgments, fines, restitution and forfeiture under a variety of federal laws.
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