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Kentucky Hospital Settles Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Case

St. Joseph London Hospital

A southern Kentucky hospital will pay $16.5 million to the federal government to settle claims that it submitted false or fraudulent Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid claims for a variety of unnecessary heart procedures.

The agreement covers a period from Jan. 1, 2008 through Aug. 31, 2011 at St. Joseph Health System, which runs St. Joseph London Hospital.

Federal prosecutors say several doctors at the Laurel County facility placed unneeded coronary stents and pacemakers in patients and performed unnecessary  diagnostic catheterizations, then billed the federal programs.

Hospitals generally receive between $10,000 and $15,000 for medical procedures such as heart stents.

A spokesman for the University of Louisville Hospital, which runs St. Joseph, said a statement on the matter would be released later Tuesday.

U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey said a related whistleblower lawsuit and a criminal investigation are continuing.

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