The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma announced that Integris Baptist Medical Center, Inc. and Integris Health, Inc. have agreed to pay the United States $12.2 million to resolve allegations that they submitted inflated Medicare claims in their annual cost reports.
The suit originated as a whistleblower suit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Frank Heckenkemper. Mr. Heckenkemper alleged that Integris sought reimbursement for costs related to its organ transplant department that it knew were not reimbursable under Medicare and for organ acquisition costs for transplant services provided to non-Medicare patients. Mr. Heckenkemper will receive $2.3 million as a share of the recovery under the settlement. He was represented by Peter Chatfield of the law firm of Phillips & Cohen LLP.
Additional details of the settlement can be found in the November 29, 2006 edition of the North Texas e-News.