Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday 32 hospitals across the U.S. will pay a total of $28 million to settle allegations they improperly inflated their Medicare billing by admitting patients who could have been treated on an outpatient basis.
- The cases involved kyphoplasty, a procedure for treating spinal fractures that are typically a result of osteoporosis.
- This round of settlements is just the latest in the long-running probe; in total, more than 130 hospitals have agreed to pay $105 million.
Dive Insight:
The settlements stem from a whistleblower lawsuit from former employees of Kyphon, an equipment company that makes the kits involved in the procedure. The employees allege Kyphon encouraged hospitals to admit patients to help pay for the kits and bring in more cash.
The probe involves numerous high-profile healthcare systems in its latest round.
As Modern Healthcare notes, the organizations include the Cleveland Clinic, set to pay $1.74 million; Community Health Systems, set to pay $3.5 million for its five involved hospitals; and Tenet Healthcare Corp., set to pay $2.2 million for its five involved hospitals.
A statement from the Cleveland Clinic said it had fully cooperated in the probe and that, “It is important to note that all of the surgeries performed at our institution were deemed medically necessary and benefitted our patients.”