Biotronik Pays $4.9M in Kickback Scandal

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Biotronik Inc. of Lake Oswego, Oregon, has agreed to pay the United States $4.9 million to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that the company made various improper payments to induce physicians to use devices manufactured and sold by Biotronik.

According to the settlement, Biotronik paid kickbacks to physicians in the form of repeated meals at expensive restaurants and inflated payments for membership on a physician advisory board.

The settlement resolves allegations that Biotronik caused hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to submit false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for the implantation of Biotronik pacemakers, defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices.

The alleged kickbacks induced electrophysiologists and cardiologists practicing in Nevada and Arizona to continue using Biotronik devices, or to convert to Biotronik devices.

“Today’s resolution of claims underscores one of the key purposes of the Anti-Kickback law – to ensure that the judgment exercised by healthcare providers in treating Medicare and Medicaid patients is not influenced by illegal payments,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner.

The settlement was the result of a coordinated effort among the Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the FBI.

A former Biotronik employee, Brian Sant, filed a whistleblower complaint pursuant to the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which permits private persons to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the United States and to share in the proceeds of the suit. Sant will receive approximately $840,000 of the federal settlement.

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