U.S. attorney in Dallas finalizes $1.4 million deal to settle fraud allegations against Parkland
The U.S. attorney’s Dallas office just announced that it has finalized a $1.4 million deal with Parkland Memorial Hospital to resolve allegations that the facility defrauded the federal government through bogus insurance billings.
I reported last week that Parkland had agreed to pay the Justice Department, which substantiated whistleblower Lien Kyri’s lawsuit allegations that the hospital submitted claims for physical rehab consultations that patients’ primary care physicians never ordered. UT Southwestern Medical Center faculty physicians who work at Parkland directed resident doctors to perform the consults, placing some patients at risk of further injury, he said.
The Justice Department formally intervened as a plaintiff in the U.S. False Claims Act suit.
In a press statement, Sarah Saldana, U.S. attorney for the northern district of Texas, praised the investigative roles of federal health department officials and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
More at http://watchdogblog.dallasnews.com/2013/05/u-s-attorney-in-dallas-finalizes-1-4-million-deal-to-settle-fraud-allegations-against-parkland-memorial-hospital.html/ .
