Three Ohio providers will pay $3.19 million to settle allegations of submitting improper claims to Medicare and the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The providers were Columbus-based Mount Carmel Health System, New Albany Surgery Center and Orthopedic & Neurological Consultants.
The Justice Department said Robert Nowinski, MD, a physician and co-owner of the Orthopedic & Neurological Consultants, billed for complex shoulder surgeries that didn't occur at all or didn't occur within the standards of care.
"Nowinski routinely billed for complex, time-consuming shoulder surgeries despite spending a fraction of the time in the operating room as would be expected and required to complete such surgeries," the Justice Department said, according to the Dispatch.
Dr. Nowinski, who died in 2020, conducted surgeries at the Ohio facilities.
Mount Carmel will pay $760,901 to Medicare and $156,139 to the worker's compensation bureau; the surgery center will pay $772,650 to Medicare and $468,406 to the bureau; and Orthopedic & Neurological Consultants will pay $498,182 to Medicare and $533,482 to the bureau.
Read more here.