Federal investigators and prosecutors continue to wrack up millions of dollars in restitution, fines and settlements from companies and individuals under the Medicare program:
* Orthofix to pay $42 million in settlement, whistleblower gets $9 million: The McKinney, TX-based firm agreed to the settlement in order to “resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of its bone growth stimulators Orthofix Spinal-Stim, the Orthofix Cervical-Stim and the Orthofix Physio-Stim,” according to the U.S. Attorneys office in Boston.
An audit of the firm turned up evidence that “Orthofix failed to disclose that: (a) many of its territory managers filled out the entire Certificate of Medical Necessity with no input from the physician; (b) a number of its territory managers coached physicians or their staff to fill out the length of need section on the Certificate of Medical Necessity to be “9 months” for all Medicare patients; and (c) some territory managers even forged physicans’ signatures in Certificates of Medical Necessity,” the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The $42 million includes a $7.65 million criminal fine and the balance will be used to settle civil claims under the False Claims Act filed by whistle blower Jeffrey Bierman. The U.S. Attorney’s office said Bierman “participated substantially the development of the investigation that gave rise to the civil settlement.
Orthofix has not conceded liability or wrongdoing as part of the civil settlement. For more from the U.S. Attorney’s office, go here.
