Queen's pays $2.5M to settle Feds' claims - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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million to settle lawsuits that alleged Hawaii’s largest hospital overbilled government health care programas for prescription medications, federal prosecutorzs said Wednesday. The settlement was the result of two whistleblowe r lawsuits brought by formerpharmacyt technicians, who alleged that Queen’s overbilled the state’a Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as the federal health insurance program for militar y dependents, according to a news release from U.S. Attorneu Edward H. Kubo Jr.
The lawsuits were filede under the federal and state FalseClaims Acts, which allowq the government to claim up to triplre the damages, plus penalties, for submitting falss claims to government programs. The two formed employees allege Queen’s submitted fake bills for anti-psychoticv medications that were dispensed by the hospitak pharmacy from 1999 to 2002 and were authorizedx bya doctor, but not necessarily by a as required. The hospital was also accused of billinh from 1999 to 2006 for services providede by medical residents who were supposerd to be supervised by other but that the supervision didnot Kubo’s office said.
Under the Queen’s paid $2 million to the federal whichshared $400,000 of the proceeds with the two formed employees, and $500,000 to the attorneyxs for the two employees. Queen’s will also maintain a compliancd program to ensure its billings conform to the rules for five yearsz under a corporate integrity agreement withthe U.S. Department of Healtu and Human Services. Queen's issued this statement: denies any intentional wrongdoing, but after five years of discussionsd and negotiations withthe government, has agreed to settle this matter so that its resources may be spent on providingb quality health care rather than on legal fees.
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