Thirty-two hospitals in 15 states agreed to pay more than $28 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit brought by Phillips & Cohen LLP alleging that the hospitals overcharged Medicare for a type of back surgery known as kyphoplasty.
More than 130 hospitals have now reached settlements with the Justice Department totaling $105 million as a part of an investigation spurred by a Phillips & Cohen “qui tam” (whistleblower) lawsuit. In addition, the government had previously settled similar allegations with Medtronic Spine LLC, which purchased Kyphon, the company that produced the balloon device used to perform kyphoplasty, in 2008, for $75 million. That brings the total settlement amount for the cases to approximately $180 million.
Twenty-nine of the 32 hospitals in this round of settlements were named as defendants in that lawsuit.
Hospital settlement amounts:
The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio – $1.74 million
Citrus Memorial Health System, Inverness, Florida – $2.6 million
Cullman Regional Medical Center, Cullman, Alabama – $350,000
Martin Memorial Medical Center, Stuart, Florida – $2 million
MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital, Tacoma, Washington – $983,000
Norwalk Hospital, Norwalk, Connecticut – $920,000
Princeton Community Hospital Association, Princeton, West Virginia – $1,513,500
Sacred Heart Medical Center, Spokane, Washington – $906,000
Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Sarasota, Florida – $972,000
Spartanburg Regional Health Services District Inc., Spartanburg, South Carolina – $1.725 million
St. Cloud Hospital, St. Cloud, Minnesota – $500,000
Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, Florida – $2 million
Five hospitals (Crestwood Medical Center, Huntsville, Alabama; St. Joseph’s Hospital, Fort Wayne, Indiana; Carolinas Hospital System, Florence, South Carolina; Mary Black Health System, Spartanburg, South Carolina and Trinity Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama) affiliated with Community Health Systems Inc., Franklin, Tennessee – $3.5 million
Five hospitals (East Cooper Medical Center, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina; North Fulton Hospital, Roswell, Georgia; Providence Memorial Hospital, El Paso, Texas; St. Francis Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee and Sierra Medical Center, El Paso, Texas) affiliated with Tenet Health Care Corp., Dallas, Texas – $2.2 million
Five hospitals (Biloxi Regional Medical Center, Biloxi, Mississippi; Davis Regional Medical Center, Statesville, North Carolina; Lancaster Regional Medical Center, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Physicians Regional Medical Center, Naples, Florida and Riley Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi) formerly owned and operated by Health Management Associates Inc., Naples, Florida – $2 million
Three hospitals (Winter Haven Hospital, Winter Haven, Florida; St. Joseph’s Hospital, Tampa, Florida and St. Anthony’s Hospital, St. Petersburg, Florida) affiliated with BayCare Health System, Clearwater, Florida – $1.5 million
Two hospitals (Banner Boswell Medical Center, Sun City, Arizona and Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, Glendale, Arizona) affiliated with Banner Health in Phoenix, Arizona- $2.685 million.These include Banner Boswell Medical Center in Sun City, Arizona, and Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale, Arizona – $2.685 million