Northwell Health, $12 million
United States of America ex rel. George Markelson, et. al. v. David B. Samadi, M.D. and Northwell Health, Inc. et al.,
Southern District of Florida.
GBB attorneys represented one of three whistleblowers in a False Claims Act suit against NY health network Northwell Health, Inc. and it’s subsidiary Lenox Hill Hospital. Whistleblowers alleged that Northwell and hospital Urologist David B. Samadi billed Federal Medicare programs in violation of multiple laws or regulations. Among the accusations were that Samadi and Northwell billed for medically unnecessary procedures, billed for overlapping surgeries, and over-compensated Samadi as an illegal reward for hospital referrals. Whistleblowers also claimed that Samadi left endoscopic procedures to be completed or attended by unsupervised medical students so that he could complete or supervise another patient’s procedure. Defendant’s behavior led to the submission of false claims to Medicare and ultimately millions of dollars in fraudulent government payments.