Medical Center, Surgeon to Pay $8.5 Million Over False Claim Allegations

UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh Physicians and a surgeon agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit over false claim allegations.

The United States filed a lawsuit after a former UPMC surgeon alleged Dr. James Luketich, the longtime chair of UPMC’s Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, regularly performed up to three complex surgical procedures at the same time, failing to participate in all of the “key and critical” portions of his surgeries and forcing patients to endure hours of unnecessary anesthesia time as he moved between operating rooms.

According to the United States’ complaint, those practices violated statutes and regulations that prohibit “teaching physicians” like Luketich from billing the United States for “concurrent surgeries.” Prosecutors claimed the violations were known by UPMC leadership and increased the risk of surgical complications to patients.

Read the source article at cbsnews.com