Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1013189
51 HEALTHCARE NEWS ADVERTISINGINDEX Note: Ad page number(s) given in parentheses ADVERTISER Aesculap Implant Systems. spine. us@aesculap.com / xpstrong.com / (866) 229-3002 (pg. 11) Camber Spine. www. cambermedtech.com (pg. 41) Carl Zeiss. www.zeiss.com/spine- mis / (800) 342-9821 (pgs. 27-30) Echelon Medical Capital. www. echelonmedicalcapital.com / (888) 944-7264 (pg. 52) Haag-Streit. hsmicroscopes.com/ spine / (855) 854-5810 (pg. 2) K2M. www.bacs.com (pg. 34) Mazor Robotics. info@ mazorrobotics-us.com / mazorrobotics.com (pg. 47) Medicrea. www.medicrea.com / visit@medicrea.com (pgs.42-45) Medtronic. www.medtronic.com / (pgs. 14-17) National Medical. nationalascbilling.com / (866) 948- 7673 / (pg. 5) Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. www. exparel.com / (855) 793-9727 (pgs. 7-8) Paradigm Spine. training@ paradigmspine.com / www. paradigmspine.com (pg. 3) Xenco Medical. xencomedical.com (pg. 37) Zavation. sales@zavation.com / www.zavation.com / (601) 919-1119 (pg. 13) Texas hospital closes, allegedly owes Cigna and Aetna $43M By Ayla Ellison I t was an eventful May for Bay Area Regional Medical Center in Webster, Texas. e hospital officially closed its doors, laid off about 700 employees and plans to seek bankruptcy protection. Also, a lawsuit filed against Bay Area Regional Medical Center by a lab testing com- pany revealed the hospital may owe Cigna and Aetna a combined $43 million. Bay Area Regional Medical Center announced plans last week to shut down. Although the news release said the hospital would cease operations May 10, the facility offi- cially closed May 5 when the last patients were transferred out, a Bay Area Regional spokesperson told Fox 26. According to a lawsuit filed in Texas district court May 7 by ESA Toxicology, a Houston-based lab testing company, the shuttered hospital may owe Cigna and Aetna a total of $43 million. In May 2015, the hospital contracted with ESA for lab services for DNA genetic specimens and urine toxicol- ogy specimens. Under the agreement, ESA claims it was responsible for preparing and collecting the bills and statements for all laboratory services provided by ESA to Bay Area Regional Medical Center, and the hospital was responsible for monitoring all payer agreements for com- pliance. ESA alleges the hospital failed to comply with many of its obligations under the agreement. Specifically, the lab com- pany claims Bay Area Regional Medical Center stopped making full payments to ESA in July 2016. ESA further alleges the hospital failed to monitor payer agreements. According to the lawsuit, Bay Area Regional Medical Cen- ter's contracts with Aetna and Cigna prohibited the hos- pital from outsourcing laboratory services. In December 2017, Aetna sent the hospital a letter demanding it return $26.1 million in overpayments the insurer allegedly made as a result of the hospital improperly submitting claims for lab services performed by independent laboratories. In January, Cigna sent Bay Area Regional Medical Center a letter demanding $17.4 million for the same reason. On April 9, Bay Area Regional Medical Center sent a let- ter to ESA demanding indemnity for the demands by Aet- na and Cigna. ESA claims it is not responsible. "Aetna's and Cigna's demands against BARMC result from BARMC's violations of its contacts with Aetna and Cigna, contracts to which plaintiff was not a party, and the terms of which were deliberately concealed from plaintiff," ESA wrote in its motion for declaratory judgment. n 23-hospital system enters $14M settlement with feds over improper physician payments By Ayla Ellison M ercy Health, a 23-hospital system based in Cincinnati, agreed to pay the federal government $14.25 million to resolve allegations the system violated the False Claims Act, according to the Department of Justice. The settlement resolves allegations Mercy Health provided compen- sation to six referring physicians — one oncologist and five internal medicine physicians — that exceeded fair market value of their ser- vices. The health system disclosed these issues to the DOJ. "When physicians are rewarded financially for referring patients to hospitals or other healthcare providers, it can affect their medical judgment, resulting in overutilization of services and higher health care costs," said Acting Assistant Attorney Chad A. Readler, head of the DOJ's Civil Division. "In addition to yielding a recovery for taxpay- ers, this settlement should deter similar conduct in the future and help make healthcare more affordable." n