by Ben Vernia | February 17th, 2017
On February 6, the Department of the Justice announced that TeamHealth Holdings, a Knoxville, Tennesse – based provider of hospitalist care (physicians who specialize in hospital-based treatment), has paid $60 million to resolve charges, initially leveled by a whistleblower, that the company charged for more expensive medical care than was actually provided. According to DOJ’s press release:
A major U.S. hospital service provider, TeamHealth Holdings, as successor in interest to IPC Healthcare Inc., f/k/a IPC The Hospitalists Inc. (IPC), has agreed to resolve allegations that IPC violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare, Medicaid, the Defense Health Agency and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program for higher and more expensive levels of medical service than were actually performed (a practice known as “up-coding”), the Department of Justice announced today. Under the settlement agreement, TeamHealth has agreed to pay $60 million, plus interest.
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The government contended that IPC knowingly and systematically encouraged false billings by its hospitalists, who are medical professionals whose primary focus is the medical care of hospitalized patients. Specifically, the government alleged that IPC encouraged its hospitalists to bill for a higher level of service than actually provided. IPC’s scheme to improperly maximize billings allegedly included corporate pressure on hospitalists with lower billing levels to “catch up” to their peers.
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As part of the settlement, TeamHealth entered into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) covering the company’s hospital medicine division. This CIA is designed to increase TeamHealth’s accountability and transparency so that the company will avoid or promptly detect future fraud and abuse.
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The government announced that the whistleblower, a former physician employed by TeamHealth, will receive $11.4 million of the settlement (a 19% relator’s share).
