Ten Florida cardiologists agreed to pay $2 million to the state of Florida to resolve allegations that they submitted inflated claims to Medicare and Medicaid and billed while the physicians were outside the U.S.
All the physicians practiced at Florida Cardiology, according to a Justice Department news release. The U.S. and Florida state governments intervened last year in a whistleblower lawsuit against the company and physicians Sandeep Bajaj, MD; Abbas Ali, MD; Karan Reddy, MD; Claudio Manubens, MD; Milan Kothari, MD; Saroj Tampira, MD; Sayed Hussain, MD; Raviprasad Subraya, MD; Harish Patil, MD; and Edwin Martinez, MD.
According to the lawsuit and settlement agreement, Dr. Bajaj and Dr. Reddy billed for more intravascular stents than were actually inserted; Dr. Bajaj billed for radiofrequency ablations that were not performed by him or not performed by a qualifying provider; and all 10 physicians billed for procedures and services while they were outside the U.S.
The settlement concludes the lawsuit, which was filed by relators Derrick Graham and Jesse Frauenhofer under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act. This allows private citizens to sue on behalf of the U.S. and share in the recovery. The relators will receive $420,000 of the settlement.