Ohio

A settlement has been reached in relation to two whistleblower class action lawsuits brought against Columbus Regional Healthcare System (Columbus Regional) and Dr. Andrew Pippas.  They are accused of submitting claims in violation of the Stark Law and submitting claims for payment to federal health care programs that misrepresented the level of services they provided. 

Under the settlement agreement, of the $25.425 million that Columbus Regional and Pippas have agreed to pay to resolve their respective civil claims, they will pay $24,666,040 to the federal government for federal healthcare program losses and $758,960 to the state of Georgia for the state share of its Medicaid losses, plus additional contingent payments not to exceed $10 million, for a maximum settlement amount of $35 million.The whistleblower's recovery amount was not disclosed.

The first of the two lawsuits was filed in May 2012.  The lawsuits alleged that that from May 2006 through May 2013, Columbus Regional submitted claims to federal health care programs for services at higher levels than supported by the documentation, and between 2010 and 2012, they submitted claims to federal health care programs for radiation therapy at higher levels than the therapy that was provided.

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against St. Jude Medical Inc, Parma Community General Hospital, and Norton Healthcare. They are accused of violating the False Claims Act in relation to certain illegal kickbacks to secure heart-device business.

Under the terms of the settlement, St. Jude, headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., will pay $3,725,000. Parma Community General Hospital, located in Parma, Ohio, will pay $40,000, and Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Ky., will pay $133,300. The government asserted that Parma and Norton were recipients of improper rebates from St. Jude.  The reward for the whistleblower will be $640,050.

The whistleblower case was originally filed in 2006. The United States alleged that St. Jude paid illegal kickbacks to two hospitals to secure heart-device business and that these kickbacks caused false claims to be submitted to federal health care programs in violation of the False Claims Act. The kickbacks included alleged rebates that were "retroactive" and paid based on a hospital’s previous purchases of St. Jude heart-device equipment and rebates that St. Jude paid for purchases of heart-device equipment sold by its competitors to induce purchases of similar equipment from St. Jude in the future.

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, Two Ohio Hospitals, and Physician Group . They are accused of engaging in a kickback-for-referral scheme.

The whistleblower will receive $468,000.

Originally filed in 2007, the United States alleged that University Internal Medicine Associates, a physician group based at The University Hospital in Cincinnati, offered to provide the interventional cardiology coverage that The Fort Hamilton Hospital needed for the clinical trial, but only if the hospital agreed to refer cardiology patients and procedures to the physician group on a preferential basis. The government contended that the preferential referral arrangements sometimes resulted in patients being transferred to The University Hospital, or being seen by cardiologists with University Internal Medicine Associates, rather than the hospital or cardiologist of their choosing.