LOS ANGELES – Biotronik Inc., a medical device manufacturer based in Oregon, has agreed to pay $12.95 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by causing the submission of false claims to Medicare and Medicaid by paying kickbacks to physicians to induce their use of Biotronik’s implantable cardiac devices, such as pacemakers and defibrillators.
The settlement announced today resolves allegations in a “whistleblower” complaint that Biotronik engaged in a kickback scheme to pay certain favored physicians to induce and reward their use of Biotronik’s pacemakers, defibrillators and other cardiac devices. The case was partially unsealed by United States District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez and was made public on Thursday.
Biotronik allegedly abused a new employee training program by paying physicians for an excessive number of trainings and, in some cases, for training events that either never occurred or were of little or no value to trainees. Biotronik allegedly made these payments despite concerns raised by its own compliance department, which warned that salespeople had too much influence in selecting physicians to conduct new employee training and that the training payments were being over-utilized.
The settlement also resolves allegations that Biotronik violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute when it paid for physicians’ holiday parties, winery tours, lavish meals with no legitimate business purpose, and international business class airfare...
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