MD Hospital Agrees to IRO Oversight of Cath Lab

Following the announcement earlier this month of a $1.8 million False Claims Act settlement with the Department of Justice, Maryland's Peninsula Regional Medical Center said Monday that it will retain an independent review organization to evaluate and analyze the medical necessity of procedures performed in its cardiac catherization lab.

The move is part of a corporate integrity agreement the medical center signed as part of  its deal with DOJ to settle a case in which prosecutors said unnecessary cardiac stent procedures were performed by a Pensinsula cardiologist.

The CIA was signed August 9 but wasn't released to the public until Monday when it was posted on the website of the Office of Inspector General.

The document details the steps officials at the Salisbury, MD medical center will take to ensure that the operation of its cardiac cath lab complies with federal and state regulations.

The IRO will review random catheterization lab procedures to assess the appropriateness of case selection, execution of the procedure, and the response to any problems.

The fraud case involved allegations that officials at PRMC knew about, but failed to act on, unnecessary cardiac stent procedures performed by John R. Mclean, M.D., a cardiologist at the medical center. McLean was convicted of fraud in July 2011 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.