childrens hospital fraud Archives - National Whistleblower & Government Fraud Settlement Attorney

Bottom line: Medicaid pays the same amount for a Midwife as for an Ob-Gyn. Thus, some hospitals have a financial incentive to push even the high-risk patients to use Midwives rather than doctors. Unfortunately, this is happening at considerable risk and sometimes serious damage to patients.

$100 Million Lawsuit Filed

$100 Million federal law suit was filed against Indiana University Health and 2 associated medical organizations, Healthnet and MDWise. Allegations state “Contrary to their carefully crafted image of offering compassionate care for the indigent, two of the largest healthcare providers in Indianapolis put poor, pregnant women and their newborn babies at risk with a fraud scheme designed to increase revenues, regardless of the law or the risks to the most medically-fragile patients.”

A doctor at the hospital filed a complaint after what she saw there. Dr. Judy Robinson is the former medical director at the hospital. “I’m filing this lawsuit because of the abysmal care I witnessed these people receiving. And, after approaching IU Health, nobody would do anything.” Robinson pointed out that patients who should have received monitoring during their pregnancy didn’t receive the monitoring. “There was little to no physician involvement in the obstetrical care of these high-risk patients.”

Under the state Medicaid reimbursement rules, “Nurse midwives may not provide services to members with medically high-risk pregnancies. However, according to the lawsuit, lower-cost nurse midwives handled high-risk patients, in violation of the Medicaid regulations.

To make it worse, the hospital filed false-claims with the state and federal government for doctor services the patients never received. The hospitals are using midwives but getting reimbursed for using doctors.

Babies Permanently Damaged

According to Dr. Robinson, at least 3 babies suffered permanent neurological damage and 17 infants nearly missed a tragic outcome.

Watch the TV interview here.

Thanks to whistleblowers like Dr. Judy Robinson, the lives of children may be dramatically changed for the better.

If you think you may have a whistleblower case, have a confidential talk with a whistleblower attorney as soon as possible. These are time-sensitive matters. A whistleblower attorney knows how to protect your rights and get results.

Hospitals around the country have been accused of violating the false claims act. Children’s Hospital in D.C. is among them.

The allegations against Children’s Hospital

Children’s Hospital, Children’s National Medical Center Inc. and it’s affiliated entities, collectively known as CNMC faced claims of violating the False Claims Act. They are accused of submitting false claims reports and other applications to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and to Medicaid programs in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Violating False Claims Act Raises Health Care Costs for Everyone

“The false reporting alleged in today’s settlement deprived the Medicare Trust Fund of millions of taxpayers’ dollars,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Such conduct wastes critical federal health care program funds and drives up the costs of health care for all of us.”
“The integrity of federal health care programs depends on honest and accurate reporting from the hospitals and other health care providers that receive hundreds of billions of tax dollars every year,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Vincent H. Cohen Jr. of the District of Columbia. “This settlement demonstrates our commitment to defending the integrity of the system and ensuring that taxpayer money goes to meet the most critical health care needs. We will continue to work with whistleblowers like the former employee who came forward in this case to battle waste, fraud and abuse that fuel the skyrocketing cost of health care.”

The settlement Agreement

Children’s Hospital agreed to pay $12.9 million in a settlement agreement. According to the settlement agreement, in two distinct ways, CNMC misstated information on cost reports and applications. The HHS and Medicaid programs used the false information to calculate reimbursement rates to CNMC. The United States contended that CNMC falsely reported its available bed count on its application to HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration under the Children’s Hospitals Graduation Medical Education (CHGME) Payment Program. This program provides federal funds to freestanding children’s hospitals to help maintain their graduate medical education programs. Such programs train pediatric and other residents.

The United States further contended that CNMC filed cost reports which misstated their overhead costs. These false reports resulted in overpayment from Medicare as well as the Virginia and District of Columbia Medicaid programs.

Allegations against CNMC were filed by James A. Roark Sr., a former employee of CNMC, under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. Under the False Claims Act, a private citizen can sue on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery. The United States is entitled to intervene in a False Claims Act lawsuit, as it did in this case.

From the $12.9 million settlement, Mr. Roark will receive $1,890,649.98.

Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) Initiative

In May 2009, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services announced the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative. This was done in efforts to combat health care fraud. The two departments are working together to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of their most powerful tools is the False Claims Act.

$24.3 billion has been recovered through False Claims Act cases since January 2009. More than $15.3 billion involves fraud against federal health care programs.
Please note: This particular matter was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia with assistance from the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the HHS’ Office of Inspector General.
The case is United States ex rel. Roark v. Children’s Hosp., et al., No. 1:14-cv-00616 (D.D.C.).
The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Tag: childrens hospital fraud

Endangering Babies For Profit

Children’s Hospital Pays Millions in Settlement