Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and Surgical Associates of Texas are forced to pay a $15 million settlement for Medicare fraud for improperly billing concurrent heart surgeries, and violating teaching physician and informed consent regulations.
Back in 2019 an investigation was started after a whistleblower lodged a complaint alleging that Drs. Joseph Coselli, Joseph Lamelas, and David Ott performed multiple surgeries simultaneously, assigned unqualified medical residents to perform complex surgeries without supervision, and falsely attested to their presence in medical records.
The doctors actions violated both Medicare regulations and endangered patient’s lives.
The settlement was the largest of its kind covering violations from years 2013 through 2020.
The case was lead by Attorney’s Office DHHS-OIG and FBI headed by assistant U.S. Attorneys Brad Gray and Andrew Bobb who collectively granted the whistleblower over $3 million.
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REFERENCES:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/texas-medical-center-institutions-agree-pay-15m-record-settlement-involving-concurrent
