A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against EMH Regional Medical Center (EMH) and North Ohio Heart Center Inc (NOHC). They are accused of submitting false claims to Medicare.
Making up the $4,400,000 settlement, EMH Regional Medical Center (EMH) has agreed to pay the United States $3,863,857 and North Ohio Heart Center Inc. (NOHC) has agreed to pay the United States $541,870. The whistleblower will receive $660,859.
The initial whistleblower case was filed in October of 2006. The government's complaint alleged that between 2001 and 2006 EMH and NOHC performed unnecessary cardiac procedures on Medicare patients. Specifically, the United States alleged that EMH and NOHC performed angioplasty and stent placement procedures on patients who had heart disease but whose blood vessels were not sufficiently occluded to require the particular procedures at issue.