Department of Justice Seal Department of Justice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2002
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
CIV
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ACCUSES 27 HOSPITALS
OF MISCHARGING MEDICARE


WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States has intervened in dozens of lawsuits alleging that hospitals around the country mischarged the Medicare program, the Justice Department announced today. The suits allege that between 1986 and 1995, these hospitals improperly charged Medicare for tens of millions of dollars worth of procedures involving experimental cardiac devices that had not been determined to be safe and effective and were not properly reimbursable.

The government has now intervened in related lawsuits against the following hospitals: Stanford Hospital and Clinics in California; Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut; Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.; Florida Hospital Medical Center and Orlando Regional Medical Center in Florida; St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta, Emory University Hospital, and Crawford Long Hospital of Emory University in Georgia; Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Foster G. McGaw Hospital of Loyola University of Chicago in Illinois; Clarian Health Partners, d/b/a Methodist Hospital of Indiana and St. Vincent's Hospital and Health Care Center in Indiana; Trinity Health - Michigan d/b/a St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan; St. Francis Hospital, Roslyn and Montefiore Medical Center in New York; St. Vincent Hospital and Medical Center in Oregon; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Presbyterian Hospital of University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Pennsylvania; St. Thomas Hospital in Tennessee; Baylor University Medical Center and Methodist Hospital, Lubbock in Texas; Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Virginia; Sacred Heart Medical Center and Providence Medical Center in Washington; and Aurora Heath Care Metro, Inc., d/b/a St. Luke's Medical Center, and Aurora Sinai Samaritan Medical Center in Wisconsin.

The interventions announced today bring to 40 the number of hospitals that the government is actively pursuing in these related cases. The United States has previously reached settlements with 31 hospitals for a total of roughly $42 million, and is in the process of finalizing settlements with two other hospitals.

The lawsuits were originally filed by a relator or whistleblower under the False Claims Act, which permits private citizens to file suit on behalf of the government and share in any recovery. The relator, Kevin Cosens, is a former medical device salesman.

The cases will be litigated jointly by the Civil Division of the Department of Justice and the United States Attorney's Offices in the Northern and Central Districts of California, the District of Connecticut, the District of Columbia, the Middle District of Florida, the Northern District of Georgia, the Northern District of Illinois, the Southern District of Indiana, the District of Massachusetts, the Eastern District of Michigan, the Eastern District of Missouri, the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of New York, the Middle District of North Carolina, the District of Oregon, the Middle District of Tennessee, the Northern and Southern Districts of Texas, the Eastern District of Virginia, the Eastern and Western Districts of Washington, and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

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