The investigation concluded with the announcement that 51 additional hospitals have agreed to pay nearly $24 million to settle allegations they improperly billed Medicare for surgical procedures to implant cardioverter defribillators.
“Monongalia’s settlement amount means that nearly 200 non-allowed procedures could have taken place in this on hospital,” a press release stated.
More than 500 hospitals nationwide have agreed to pay more than $280 million to the Medicare program. The DOJ negotiated 81 separate settlements with the hospital systems, including some of the nation’s largest healthcare systems.
The ICDs were implanted in patients’ chests within days after the patients had suffered heart attacks or had undergone bypass or angioplasty procedures.
Studies have shown that in many patients, doing so is not beneficial and is potentially harmful to the heart as it heals.
