LifeWatch Settles Whistleblower Lawsuit For $18.5M

LifeWatch Services Inc. agreed to pay $18.5 million to save its own life after it was accused of submitting false claims to Medicare.

Two former employees of the company filed a whistleblower lawsuit, under a whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which allows citizens to act as whistleblowers to file lawsuits against companies that have directly or indirectly defrauded the federal government. The lawsuits claimed that LifeWatch made bogus claims to Medicare for an ambulatory cardiac telemetry (ACT), which is a type of heart monitoring.

Medicare offered reimbursements for companies that provided ACT services that ranged from $750 to $1,200 per claim. The U.S. Department of Justice said that the company submitted claims for reimbursement that were not eligible because it was providing services for patients who did not have severe enough heart palpitations.

Each of the initial whistleblowers will share about $3.4 million from the settlement.

If you or someone you know has information about a company defrauding the government, contact Sokolove Law for a free legal consultation and to find out if you have grounds to pursue a whistleblower lawsuit.

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