Pitt pays $17 million to settle PATH suit
In March, the 18 clinical practice plans affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine agreed to pay the federal government $17 million to settle allegations that it defrauded Medicare and Medicaid with false claims between 1990 and 1996.
In a statement released shortly after the settlement, the institution maintained that the settlement had "nothing to do with the quality of services provided to patients, nor does it indicate fraudulent conduct." Administrators there stress that they chose to settle only in an effort to avoid "long and costly litigation."
The institution criticized the government for retrospectively applying billing standards set in 1996 to cases dating back as far as 1990. Pittsburgh is the fourth institution to settle a PATH investigation.
So far, 49 of the country's leading academic medical centers are in various stages of PATH audits. Other institutions to settle include the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
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