Dive Brief:
- The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and James Luketich, the longtime chair of UPMC’s cardiothoracic surgery department, have agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle claims that the doctor and system jeopardized patient health to maximize profit and falsely billed federal programs.
- The whistleblower suit alleges that Luketich regularly performed as many as three complex surgeries at the same time, didn’t participate in critical portions of his procedures and kept patients under anesthesia for hours more than medically necessary.
- The Department of Justice, which intervened in the suit, also alleges that UPMC knowingly allowed Luketich to continue these practices to increase surgical volume and maximize UPMC’s revenue. Luketich is one of UPMC’s highest-paid employees, and one of UPMC’s highest sources of revenue, according to the lawsuit.
Trendline Dive Insight:
The whistleblower lawsuit was originally filed in 2019 by Jonathan D’Cunha, the current chair of cardiothoracic surgery at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, and formerly the vice chair of cardiothoracic surgery at UPMC. D’Cunha filed the suit after his complaints to UPMC administrators and medical staff over Luketich’s surgical practices failed to stop them, according to the law firm that represents D’Cunha.
The DOJ intervened in the lawsuit in 2021 over allegations that Luketich falsely billed federal healthcare programs for millions of dollars, in...
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