A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against NuVasive Inc who is accused of causing health care providers to submit false claims to Medicare and other federal health care programs.
According to the settlement agreement, the federal share of the civil settlement is $12,583,413.84, and the state Medicaid share of the civil settlement is $916,586.16. The whistleblower will receive a $2.2 million share of federal reward.
The whistleblower case was originally filed in September 2012. The United States complaint alleged that between 2008 and 2013, NuVasive promoted the use of the CoRoent System for surgical uses that were not approved or cleared by the FDA, including for use in treating two complex spine deformities, severe scoliosis and severe spondylolisthesis. As a result of this conduct, the United States alleged that NuVasive caused physicians and hospitals to submit false claims to federal health care programs for certain spine surgeries that were not eligible for reimbursement. In more detail, the government complaint asserts NuVasive knowingly offered and paid illegal remuneration to certain physicians to induce them to use the CoRoent System in spine fusion surgeries, in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. The illegal remuneration consisted of promotional speaker fees, honoraria and expenses relating to physicians’ attendance at events sponsored by a group known as the Society of Lateral Access Surgery (SOLAS). SOLAS was allegedly created, funded and operated solely by NuVasive, despite its outward appearance of independence.
