A Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health neurosurgeon, who faces a lawsuit for allegedly defrauding Medicare, was terminated and will leave the health system Sept. 24, according to a local newspaper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.
A lawyer for Wilson Asfora, MD, the neurosurgeon, told the Argus Leader Dr. Asfora was terminated. Dr. Asfora has been with the system since 2007.
Dr. Asfora faces a lawsuit for allegedly defrauding Medicare by performing unnecessary spine surgeries that required the use of a medical device from his own company. Sanford Health is also named in the lawsuit. The suit was filed by two of Dr. Asfora's colleagues, Dustin Bechtold, MD, and Bryan Wellman, MD. Dr. Asfora settled a similar lawsuit in 2014 without admitting wrongdoing, according to the report.
In July, the Argus Leader reported that Sanford Health CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft, COO Matthew Hocks and CMO Allison Suttle, MD, stood by Dr. Asfora and pledged to "vigorously defend against the allegations asserted in the complaint."
Read more here.
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