Investigators from the US Attorney’s Office in Buffalo and the US Dept. of Health and Human Services are looking into health care fraud involving kyphoplasty, according to a report in the Indiana Post-Tribune.
Federal agents are making unannounced visits to investigate hospital billing for kyphoplasty, a minimally invasive back surgery procedure.
Kyphon, the manufacturer and now a subsidiary of Medtronic, agreed in May to pay $75 million to settle a False Claims Act suit brought by two whistleblowers. The suit alleged that Kyphon sales and marketing staff illegally instructed physicians and hospital executives how to get higher Medicare reimbursements for kyphoplasty procedures by unnecessarily claiming them as an inpatient hospital services.