A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Biotronik Inc who is accused of paying kickbacks to induce physicians to use its products, causing hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to submit false claims to Medicare and Medicaid.
Biotronik agreed to pay a $4.9 million settlement with the federal government and the whistleblower will receive $846,000 of the total settlement.
Filed in 2009, the whistleblower lawsuit alleged that Biotronik Inc paid for expensive restaurant meals and inflated membership fees on a physician advisory board to induce electrophysiologists and cardiologists in Nevada and Arizona to use Biotronik devices.