CHICAGO
(Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Feb. 6 that TeamHealth Holdings, a successor in interest to IPC
Healthcare Inc., will pay $60 million to resolve allegations of violating the
False Claims Act.
“This settlement reflects our ongoing commitment to ensure
that health care providers appropriately bill government programs vital to
patient health care,” said acting assistant attorney general Chad A. Readler of
the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
According
to allegations, IPC systematically encouraged its employees to falsely bill
Medicare, Medicaid, the Defense Health Agency and the Federal Employees Health
Benefits Program. These employees would bill for a higher level of service than
they actually performed on the patient. Alleged conduct of this nature, known
as “up-coding,” violates the False Claims Act.
“Medical providers who fraudulently seek payments to which
they are not entitled will be held accountable,” said U.S. attorney Zachary T.
Fardon for the Northern District of Illinois. “False documentation of treatment is
not just flawed patient care; it is illegal.”
The Civil
Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois and HHS-OIG handled the
case.
Sign-up for Alerts
Alerts Sign-up
