SCL Health to pay $1.95M in settlement with Department of Justice

BROOMFIELD — SCL Health was involved in a $23 million settlement announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of a nationwide investigation into hospitals improperly billing Medicare for implanted cardiac devices that weren’t covered.

The settlement included 51 hospitals in 15 states, including five hospitals that either are or were owned or operated by Broomfield-based SCL.

SCL, which owns Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette, agreed to pay $1.95 million. Good Samaritan, however, was not one of the hospitals named in the settlement.

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The SCL properties named included: St. Francis Health in Topeka, Kan.; St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction; St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings, Mont.; St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif.; and Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, which is now owned by Prime Healthcare Services.

Wednesday’s settlement follows a similar $250 million settlement with 457 hospitals in October. DOJ’s investigation was spurred by a whistleblower lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act.

At issue was the billing for implantable cardioverter defibrillators, which connects to the heart to detect and treat chaotic and life-threatening heart rhythms by delivering a shock to the hear to restore its normal rhythm.

Only patients with certain characteristics and risk factors qualify for Medicare coverage of the devices, DOJ officials said Wednesday. But from 2003 to 2010, the settling hospitals were alleged to have implanted the devices in Medicare patients during restricted waiting periods.