iOn July 10, 2013, United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced a $4 million settlement between Allegiance Health d/b/a W.A. Foote Memorial Hospital, Jackson Cardiology Associates, P.C., Jashu R. Patel, M.D. and the U.S. Government. The U.S. Department of Justice collaborated with the Birmingham, Michigan law firm, Vezina Law, PLC, in pursuing this action against the Jackson, Michigan based defendants.
According to allegations brought against the defendants in 2008, Foote Memorial Hospital, Jackson Cardiology Associates, and Dr. Patel knowingly billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health care programs for medically unnecessary cardiovascular procedures and tests, including, but not limited to, stress tests, cardiac catheterizations, cardiac stents, and peripheral angiography procedures.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan under the qui tam provisions of the Federal and State False Claims Acts. Both False Claims Acts allow private individuals with knowledge of fraud against a government program to file lawsuits on the Government’s behalf. If the case is successful, the private plaintiffs, known as relators or whistleblowers, are entitled to a percentage of the Government’s recovery. The state and federal False Claims Acts both provide for recovery of three times the single damages incurred by the government as a result of the fraud, as well as civil monetary penalties of between $5,500 and $11,000 per false claim submitted and statutory attorney fees.
The relator in this case is Dr. Julie Movach, an independent contractor with Medical Practice and a physician board certified in internal medicine, cardiology, and echocardiography. Dr. Movach released a statement explaining how important it is for her to deliver the best care to her patients and ensure that they do not undergo any unnecessary procedures. When she realized that certain health care providers were more concerned with their personal financial well-being rather than the welfare of their patients, to the point that they would commit fraud against federal health care programs, Dr. Movach knew she must expose this corruption. She took it upon herself to file a lawsuit against the defendants on behalf of the U.S. government. Dr. Movach deserves our thanks and applause for her willingness to risk her livelihood in order to ensure people with genuine need can continue to receive assistance from Medicare and Medicaid.
In this case, the combined settlement was $4,150,988.31. The Foote Memorial Hospital settled the allegations with the federal government for $1,824.927.98 and with the State of Michigan for $126,060.33. At the same time, Dr. Patel and Jackson Cardiology settled the allegations with the federal government for $2,200,000.00. As the whistleblower, Dr. Movach will receive a 19% share of the overall settlement, which amounts to approximately $760,000 of the proceeds.
