Surgeons left heart surgeries to perform other operations in Texas, officials say
.png "Three medical institutions in Texas will have to pay out millions after a whistleblower exposed that doctors were performing multiple surgeries at the same time, according to officials.")
Three medical institutions in Texas will have to pay out millions after a whistleblower said doctors were performing multiple surgeries at the same time, according to officials.
Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine and Surgical Associates of Texas P.A. have agreed to pay $15 million, according to a June 24 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
The settlement comes after an investigation began Aug. 7, 2019, when a whistleblower filed a complaint saying doctors were performing multiple surgeries at the same time.
The whistleblower said three heart surgeons would regularly run two operating rooms at once. They’re accused of handing off “key aspects of extremely complicated and risky heart surgeries to unqualified medical residents,” officials said.
Patients who were being operated on had no knowledge that the surgeons were leaving during the procedures, according to officials.
“The heart surgeries at issue are some of the most complicated operations performed at any hospital including coronary artery bypass grafts, valve repairs and aortic repair procedures. These surgeries typically involve opening a patients’ chest and placing the patient on the bypass machine for some portion of time,” officials said.
Between June 3, 2013, to Dec. 21, 2020, the doctors were accused of not attending the surgical “timeout,” entering into a second, and sometimes third, operation without having a backup surgeon and falsifying medical records to say they were present for the “entire” operation.
“Any time any one of us goes under the knife as a vulnerable patient, we implicitly trust that the surgeons and medical professionals have our best interest at heart, especially here in Houston’s world-renowned hospitals,” Douglas Williams, special agent in charge of the FBI Houston field office, said in the release. “In this case, doctors gambled with their patients’ care.”
Williams said the doctors “falsely billed Medicare for reimbursement of services they improperly delegated.”
Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center said in a statement sent to McClatchy News that the settlement is to resolve a billing matter.
“Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to resolve a documentation and billing matter involving compliance and billing requirements set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The DOJ claims are strictly allegations and the settlement by Baylor St. Luke’s is not an admission of liability,” the statement said.
Baylor College of Medicine told McClatchy News in a statement that the institution “did not engage in conduct that violates any applicable federal law or regulation.”
“It is also important to note that no patients were harmed. The settlement agreement acknowledged that BCM disputed that any violations of federal law occurred and that the College being a party to the agreement is not an admission of liability by Baylor,” the statement said.
“The College decided to amicably resolve the dispute prior to a trial on the merits after considering the cost and expense incurred by Baylor to date, and anticipated future costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees.”
Contact information for Surgical Associates of Texas P.A. was not available.
