A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Children's National Medical Center who is accused of submitting false cost reports and other applications to the components and contractors of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as to Virginia and District of Columbia Medicaid programs.
The whistleblower will recieve a share of the settlement, totalling $1,890,649.48 for his role.
Filed in 2014, the lawsuit claims that CNMC misreported its available bed count on its application to the HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration under the the Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) Payment Program. The payment program gives federal funds to freestanding children's hospitals in order to help with their graduate medical education programs that train pediatric and other residents. The United States also contended that the CNMC made cost reports misstating their overheard costs, which then resulted in overpayment from Medicare and the Virginia and District of Columbia Medicaid programs.
