A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against HealthEast Care System. Three HealthEast Care System hospitals are accused of submitting false claims to Medicare.
The two whistleblowers' recovery amounts from this lawsuit that was filed in 2008, were not specified.
The United States complaint asserts that three HealthEast Care System hospitals overcharged Medicare from 2002 to 2007 by thousands of dollars each time they performed kyphoplasty, a minimally-invasive procedure used to treat certain spinal fractures that often are due to osteoporosis. The procedure can be performed safely as an outpatient surgery, but the government contends that the HealthEast hospitals performed the procedure on an inpatient basis in order to increase their Medicare billings.
