Time out procedure upmc8/26/2023 "Some of Luketich's patients were forced to endure additional surgical procedures and/or extended hospital stays as a result of his unlawful conduct. "UPMC has persistently ignored or minimized complaints by employees and staff" about Luketich's work habits, and "protected him from meaningful sanction refused to curtail his surgical practice and continued to allow Luketich to skirt the rules and endanger his patients," according to the lawsuit. Luketich was warned to stop overbooking himself via internal communications, including directives from a UPMC surgery oversight committee. Luketich and UPMC colleagues "regularly sacrificed patient health in order to increase surgical volume in the CT Department, to ensure that Luketich - and only Luketich - performs certain portions of surgical procedures, and to maximize profit," the lawsuit stated. The lawsuit alleged that Luketich often staggered three surgeries, booking two adjacent rooms for the same time and then starting another nearby, which is "typically booked under another attending physician's name" because he cannot legally manage more than two at once. The government is seeking retribution of three times the amount the system billed the public programs, and at least $23,331 for each procedure under question. D'Cunha now works at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, but his bio indicates that he served on a UPMC committee until this year. Based on a 2-year investigation, the complaint alleged that they "knowingly submitted hundreds of materially false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid, and other government health benefit programs over the past six years," according to a DOJ press release.Ĭo-plaintiff Jonathan D'Cunha, MD, PhD, another cardiothoracic surgeon, "worked closely with, and regularly observed, Luketich" from 2012 to 2019 at UPMC as a UPP contractor, the suit stated.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |