A physician who formerly worked at Steward Easton (Pa.) Hospital has agreed to pay $45,000 plus interest to resolve allegations that he submitted false claims to Medicaid and Medicare by improperly billing esophagogastroduodenoscopies.
From January 2019 to March 2020, bariatric and general surgeon Maneesh Ailawadi, MD, allegedly caused the submission of false claims by billing EGD procedures using a CPT code without the necessary reduced service modifier, according to an Oct. 10 news release from the Justice Department.
According to the release, these EGD procedures were only partially completed to save time, but Dr. Ailawadi billed the federal healthcare programs as if they had been fully completed.
The settlement also resolves a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former Steward Easton Hospital employee.