NEW JERSEY HOSPITAL SETTLES FALSE CLAIMS ACT LAWSUIT FOR MEDICARE OUTLIER FRAUD PAYMENTS
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, New Jersey, has agreed to pay $6.35 million to settle allegations it defrauded Medicare by inflating outlier payments.
Medicare provides supplemental outlier payments for cases that involve unusually high costs to providers. Two whistleblower lawsuits against the Hamilton hospital alleged it inflated charges to obtain these supplemental outlier payments for cases that were not overly costly and that should not have been eligible for outlier payments. The Department of Justice intervene in the lawsuits in January 2008.
The whistleblower will receive $1.1 million as a part of the settlement.