Christ Hospital in Cincinnati has paid approximately $1.8 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that claimed a cardiologist charged Medicare for vascular tests without reading them, according to a Cincinnati Enquirer report.
Whistleblower Peter Podore, MD, the former medical director of vascular lab services, claimed tests for up to 8,000 patients were not properly reviewed. The cardiologist involved in the allegations, John Paul Runyon, MD, has left Christ Hospital, but Dr. Podore said hospital administrators ignored warnings about the tests.
The monetary amount of the alleged fraud was not included in the news report.
"Every hospital is going to have problem physicians, problem behavior," Dr. Podore said in the report. "And every hospital has procedures to deal with these things. But my concern is that when a hospital elects to ignore their own internal procedures and in doing so puts patients at risk, that's the problem that sort of forced me to file a claim."
The hospital said it has hired a chief compliance officer and plans to "re-review" thousands of vascular tests, even though federal authorities are not requiring the latter action, according to the report.
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Whistleblower Peter Podore, MD, the former medical director of vascular lab services, claimed tests for up to 8,000 patients were not properly reviewed. The cardiologist involved in the allegations, John Paul Runyon, MD, has left Christ Hospital, but Dr. Podore said hospital administrators ignored warnings about the tests.
The monetary amount of the alleged fraud was not included in the news report.
"Every hospital is going to have problem physicians, problem behavior," Dr. Podore said in the report. "And every hospital has procedures to deal with these things. But my concern is that when a hospital elects to ignore their own internal procedures and in doing so puts patients at risk, that's the problem that sort of forced me to file a claim."
The hospital said it has hired a chief compliance officer and plans to "re-review" thousands of vascular tests, even though federal authorities are not requiring the latter action, according to the report.
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