Steward Well being Care is dealing with complaints about false claims
The U.S. Legal professional's Workplace has accused Dallas-based Steward Well being Care System and its subsidiaries of ignoring the legislation and submitting false claims to Medicare.
This criticism entails Steward St. Elizabeth's Medical Heart, Steward Medical Group and Steward Well being Care System.
The federal government says these organizations violated the Doctor Self-Referral Act, often known as the Stark Legislation, which prevents improper monetary relationships between medical doctors and hospitals that might have an effect on affected person care choices.
In 2012, they reportedly recruited a coronary heart surgeon, Dr. Agnihotri, to extend the variety of operations and earnings.
The federal government claims the surgeon was overpaid, together with bonuses based mostly on the variety of surgical procedures he referred.
It’s alleged that greater than 1,000 false claims had been submitted to Medicare, leading to tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in faulty funds.
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U.S. Legal professional Joshua S. Levy stated: “The federal government's criticism right this moment alleges that, in its efforts to broaden the variety of coronary heart surgical procedures at SEMC, defendants entered into improper compensation preparations with a cardiac surgeon and knowingly submitted false claims in Medicare.
“We’re dedicated to imposing the Stark Legislation and defending sufferers and the Medicare program from monetary relationships that may corrupt scientific determination making.”
This case started with a whistleblower criticism underneath the False Claims Act.
Roberto Coviello, Particular Agent in Cost of the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies, stated: “Improper monetary preparations between hospitals and physicians can compromise medical judgment and threaten the integrity of the Medicare program.
“Working with our legislation enforcement companions, HHS-OIG will proceed to completely examine allegations of violations of the Stark Legislation.”