False Claims Act Case against Medical College of Wisconsin gets $840k Settlement

On January 9, 2015, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced that it had intervened in and settled a False Claims Act lawsuit filed by Dr. Ganesh Elangovan. As part of the settlement, Medical College of Wisconsin agreed to pay the United States $840,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.

“Dr. Elangovan came to us three and a half years ago with information about what was happening in the department of neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin,” said Dan Twetten, attorney for Dr. Elangovan. “On his behalf, we alerted the government to our concerns.”

Dr. Elangovan’s complaint alleged that Medical College of Wisconsin submitted false claims to the Medicare and TRICARE programs for teaching physicians’ services in performing neurosurgeries involving residents. The complaint further alleged that if a resident helps perform a surgery, Medicare will pay for a teaching physician’s services only if he was present for the surgery’s key parts and either remained immediately available throughout the surgery or else arranged for a back-up surgeon to be available. MCW allegedly billed for teaching physicians’ services even though they were responsible for multiple overlapping surgeries and did not satisfy those supervision requirements. The settlement resolves certain claims submitted between April 16, 2006, and March 31, 2013 for services performed by Dr. Dennis Maiman and Dr. Shekar Kurpad.

“We are proud of the commitment and dedication of Dr. Elangovan in seeing this matter through and recovering funds for the federal government,” said Twetten. “It is because of whistleblowers like Dr. Elangovan, in partnership with the United States government, that the United States has been able to recover billions of dollars under the False Claims Act. Dr. Elangovan is proud to join this brave group of individuals.”

The case is United States of America, ex rel. Ganesh Elangovan, M.D., v. Medical College of Wisconsin, et al, Case No. 12 C 358 (Eastern District of Wisconsin).

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