MD Hospital to Settle Cardiac Stents Fraud Case for $1.8M

Peninsula Regional Medical Center will pay the federal government $1.8 million to settle claims that officials at the Salisbury, MD hospital knew about, but failed to act on, unnecessary cardiac stent procedures performed by a cardiologist, the Department of Justice has announced.

The cardiologist, John R. McLean, MD, was convicted of fraud last month after federal prosecutors showed that he inserted unnecessary cardiac stents into more than 100 patients as part of a scheme to defraud government and private insurers of more than $700,000.

The settlement this week with PRMC resolves allegations that senior medical staff at PRMC failed to act on complaints of staff in the cardiac catheterization laboratory about the medically unnecessary procedures that McLean was performing, DOJ said in a media release.

PRMC also agreed to repay money it received from federal health benefit programs between April 24, 2003 and Dec. 4, 2006 for medically unnecessary stents performed by McLean.