Fifty-five hospitals across the country agree to pony up a total of $34 million to settle allegations that they bilked Medicare by keeping patients overnight for Medtronic’s outpatient kyphoplasty spine procedure.
Some 55 U.S. hospitals agreed to pay a total of $34 million to settle U.S. Justice Dept. charges that they overcharged Medicare for Medtronic‘s (NYSE:MDT)’s kyphoplasty spine procedure, acquired in the $3.9 billion buyout of Kyphon in 2007, the Justice Dept. said today.
That takes the total settlement amount to $75 million from more than 100 hospitals, plus the $75 million Fridley, Minn.-based Medtronic paid to settle its end of the case in 2008, the government said.
All but 4 of the hospitals in the latest settlement were part of a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Kyphon employees, who are in line for about $5.5 million from the settlement, according to the Justice Dept.