Feds Slap UPMC, Lead Cardiothoracic Surgeon With Fraud Lawsuit

Following a 2-year investigation, the US government has filed suit against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), University of Pittsburgh Physicians (UPP), and James Luketich, MD, for billing related to concurrent surgeries performed by the long-time chair of cardiothoracic surgery.

The lawsuit alleges that UPMC “knowingly allowed” Luketich to “book and perform three surgeries at the same time, to miss the surgical time outs at the outset of those procedures, to go back-and-forth between operating rooms and even hospital facilities while his surgical patients remain under general anesthesia…”

UPMC, the lawsuit claims, also allowed Luketich to falsely attest that “he was with his patients throughout the entirety of their surgical procedures or during all ‘key and critical’ portions of those procedures, and to unlawfully bill Government Health Benefit Programs for those procedures, all in order to increase surgical volume, maximize UPMC and UPP’s revenue, and/or appease Luketich.”

These practices violate the statutes and regulations governing the defendants, including those that prohibit “teaching physicians” like Luketich from performing and billing the US for concurrent surgeries, the Department of Justice said in news release.

The Justice Department contends the defendants “knowingly submitted hundreds of materially false claims for payment” to Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs over the past 6 years.

“The laws prohibiting ‘concurrent surgeries’ are in place for a reason: to protect patients and ensure they receive appropriate and focused medical care,” Stephen R. Kaufman, Acting US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, said in the release. 

According to the lawsuit, “some of Luketich’s patients were forced to endure additional surgical procedures and/or extended hospital stays as a result of his unlawful conduct. Numerous patients developed painful pressure ulcers. A few were diagnosed with compartment syndrome. And at least two had to undergo amputations.”

The allegations were originally brought forward under the federal False Claims Act’s whistleblower provisions by Jonathan D’Cunha, MD, PhD, who worked closely with Luketich from 2012 to 2019 and now chairs the department of cardiothoracic surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona.

The charges cited in the lawsuit include three counts of violating the False Claims Act, one count of unjust enrichment, and one count of payment by mistake.

The 56-page lawsuit includes numerous case examples and cites an October 2015 Boston Globe Spotlight Team report on the safety of running concurrent operations, which reportedly prompted UPMC to reevaluate its policies and identify physicians or departments in potential violation.

Hospital officials met with Luketich in March 2016 and devised a “plan” to ensure his availability and “compliance with concurrency rules,” it alleges, but also highlights an email that notes “continued problems” with Luketich’s schedule.

“UPMC has persistently ignored or minimized complaints by employees and staff regarding Luketich, his hyper-busy schedule, his refusal to delegate surgeries and surgical tasks” 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.

The suit notes that Luketich is one of UPMC and UPP’s highest sources of revenue, and that UPMC advertises him as a “life-saving pioneer” who routinely performs dramatic, last-ditch procedures on patients who are otherwise hopeless.

In response to an interview request from theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology, a UPMC spokesperson wrote: “As the government itself concedes in its complaint, many of Luketich’s surgical patients are elderly, frail, and/or very ill. They include the ‘hopeless’ patients…who suffer from chronic illness or metastatic cancer, and/or have extensive surgical histories, and choose UPMC and Luketich when other physicians and healthcare providers have turned them down.”

“Dr Luketich always performs the most critical portions of every operation he undertakes,” the spokesperson said, adding that no law or regulation prohibits overlapping surgeries or billing for those surgeries, “let alone surgeries conducted by teams of surgeons like those led by Luketich.”

“The government’s claims are, rather, based on a misapplication or misinterpretation of UPMC’s internal policies and [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] guidance, neither of which can support a claim for fraudulent billing. UPMC and Dr Luketich plan to vigorously defend against the government’s claims,” the spokesperson concluded. 

The claims asserted against the defendants are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability. The government is seeking three times the amount of actual damages suffered as a result of the alleged false claims and/or fraud; a sum of $23,331 (or the maximum penalty, whichever is greater) for each false claim submitted by UPMC, UPP, and/or Luketich; and costs and expenses associated with the civil suit.

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