Medical-device maker Biotronik agreed to pay $4.9 million to settle allegations that it illegally influenced doctors to use its cardiac devices by hosting expensive meals and offering inflated payments to serve on advisory boards.
The U.S. Department of Justice alleged that the physician perks caused hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to submit tainted claims to Medicare and Medicaid for implanting the company's pacemakers, defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization devices.
Biotronik denies the allegations and “cooperated thoroughly” with the four-and-a-half-year investigation leading to the settlement (PDF), said Christopher Myers, an attorney with Holland & Knight, which represents the company.
Myers said the expensive meals at issue in the case involved a “small handful of representatives who ultimately were terminated” for violations of the company's internal compliance policies.
The government's investigation stemmed from a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a former Biotronik employee. Myers noted that the DOJ declined to pursue a number of allegations made in the original complaint. The whistle-blower, Brian Sant, is in line to receive $840,000 from the settlement.
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