Healthicity Blog

In December of 2016, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced a $12 million settlement with South Miami Hospital regarding allegations of medically unnecessary cardiac electrophysiology studies and other procedures allegedly performed by John R. Dylewski, M.D.

1. Rio Grande Valley Area Doctor Charged in Illegal Kickback Scheme - McALLEN, Texas ‐ A Rio Grande Valley area doctor has been taken into custody for his scheme to solicit and obtain illegal kickbacks in exchange for Medicare patient referrals, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson.

A couple weeks ago, Medstar Ambulance Inc. settled False Claims Act allegations with the government for $12.7 million. The allegations were first brought to the attention of the government through a former billing office employee who filed a qui tam (i.e., whistleblower) lawsuit under the False...

1. Shire PLC Subsidiaries to Pay $350 Million to Settle False Claims Act Allegations - The Justice Department announced today that Shire Pharmaceuticals LLC and other subsidiaries of Shire plc (Shire) will pay $350 million to settle federal and state False Claims Act allegations

“Open wide and say….Compliance”

Most of my blog posts reporting on settlements involve medical professionals or providers. It’s important to recognize that dental providers are also not immune to compliance woes.

Most of the time, whistleblowers are employees or someone internal to an organization. In the recent guilty verdict of Dr. Syed Ahmed, a surgeon in New York, it appears from court documents that patient complaints triggered the HHS-OIG and FBI investigations which led to the doctor’s trial.