Guidant, a subsidiary of Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific, has agreed to pay $9.25 million to settle False Claims Act charges over the company's alleged cost inflation for pacemakers and defibrillators, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
The government claimed Guidant inflated costs to federal healthcare programs by knowingly failing to grant warranty credits and rebates to hospitals for pacemakers and defibrillators that were explanted while still under warranty.
Guidant allegedly submitted invoices to Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and Department of Defense facilities that overstated the cost for a replacement pacemaker or defibrillator. The company also allegedly submitted inflated invoices for pacemakers and defibrillators to private hospitals, causing those hospitals to overstate the cost of the devices on cost reports. This resulted in Medicare paying more for the pacemakers and defibrillators than it otherwise should have.
The case's whistleblower will receive payments totaling more than $2.3 million from the settlement amount.
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The government claimed Guidant inflated costs to federal healthcare programs by knowingly failing to grant warranty credits and rebates to hospitals for pacemakers and defibrillators that were explanted while still under warranty.
Guidant allegedly submitted invoices to Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals and Department of Defense facilities that overstated the cost for a replacement pacemaker or defibrillator. The company also allegedly submitted inflated invoices for pacemakers and defibrillators to private hospitals, causing those hospitals to overstate the cost of the devices on cost reports. This resulted in Medicare paying more for the pacemakers and defibrillators than it otherwise should have.
The case's whistleblower will receive payments totaling more than $2.3 million from the settlement amount.
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