Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center will pay $2.92 million to settle a False Claims Act suit that alleged the the hospital defrauded Medicare. The Justice Department press release says the suit charged that the hospital fraudulently inflated its charges to Medicare patients to obtain enhanced reimbursement from the federal health care program. Medicare pays supplemental reimbursement, called “outlier payments,” to health care providers when the cost of care is unusually high.
The suit originated as a whistleblower lawsuit brought under the FCA’s qui tam provisions by Tony Kite. He will receive approximately $613,000, plus interest, out of the settlement proceeds.
Mr. Kite was represented by Larry Zoglin of Phillips & Cohen LLP and the law firm of Hagens Berman.