Eisenhower Medical Center has paid the federal government $8 million in settlement of a whistleblower lawsuit, which alleged the southern California hospital fraudulently overbilled Medicare and other federal health insurance programs.
The whistleblower suit was filed under the federal False Claims Act, which allows individuals to file suits on behalf of the United States against companies which are allegedly defrauding the government. The whistleblower was a consultant with Healthcare Financial Advisors, a firm which the suit claimed assisted clients in preparing two cost reports, an inflated one submitted to Medicare and a more accurate internal one. The inflated reports included costs unrelated to patient care and padded doctors’ administrative hours.
The U.S. attorney’s office reported that suits filed by this whistleblower, Mark Razin, have led to four hospitals paying more than $34 million in settlements.
Stories on the settlement were carried in the September 1, 2005 issues of the Desert Sun and the Los Angeles Times.