An emergency sign is shown at the entrance to the University of San Diego Health System in La Jolla, California, U.S., March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake
(Reuters) - A federal appeals court revived a long-running whistleblower action alleging that KCI-USA, which makes medical devices for treating wounds, bilked Medicare out of $118 million or more by deliberately miscoding invoices to certify that they were eligible for automatic payment.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a 2019 ruling by a federal judge in Los Angeles, who found the alleged miscoding had no significant effect on Medicare’s decision-making because KCI had been transparent about its coding practices since at least 2004, yet the agency continued to pay its invoices automatically.
While “KCI certainly has a strong case to make to jurors,” the 9th Circuit said, appellant Steven Hartpence had offered “abundant” opposing evidence, creating a factual dispute that cannot be resolved without a trial.
Hartpence’s attorneys, Michael Hirst of Hirst Law Group and Mark Labaton of Glancy Prongay & Murray, said they were “grateful” and “elated” by the decision.
Minnesota-based 3M, which purchased KCI’s parent company shortly after the 2019 ruling, issued a statement saying it...
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