The following is a roundup of recent lawsuits and settlements involving cases filed under the qui tam, or whistle-blower, provisions of the False Claims Act, beginning with the most recent.
1. HCA faces false claims lawsuit over unnecessary heart procedures
Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Holdings is facing a lawsuit alleging the for-profit hospital operator subjected patients to medically unnecessary interventional cardiology services and then submitted false claims to government payers for reimbursement. The whistle-blower, Christopher Gentile, was the director of professional liability claims at a wholly owned subsidiary of HCA when he filed the lawsuit.
2. Medtronic settles False Claims Act case over investigational medical procedures
Medtronic, a medical device manufacturer based in Minneapolis, paid the federal government $2.8 million to resolve allegations it caused certain physicians to submit false claims to federal healthcare programs. Jason Nickell, a former Medtronic sales representative, originally filed the lawsuit under the whistle-blower provisions of the False Claims Act.
3. Whistle-blower lawsuit sparks federal probe of Humana
Louisville, Ky.-based Humana disclosed in a regulatory filing that it is the subject of a federal probe, which is related to a or whistle-blower lawsuit filed against the health insurer.
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