For years prior to his retirement from the medical center at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Dr. Dennis O’Connor warned university officials about flaws he perceived in the hospital’s Medicare billing practices. But when the university failed to act on those warnings—“it just disappeared,” O’Connor said of an internal report on the matter—O’Connor exercised his power under the federal False Claims Act and filed a lawsuit against UCI on behalf of the government. That case settled this week for $1.2 million.

UCI’s alleged misconduct involved allowing residents to administer anesthesia without physician supervision, while charging Medicare at the higher physician-supervised rate. “It was all about money,” said O’Connor, explaining that the hospital sometimes scheduled a single doctor to supervise simultaneous procedures in two different buildings, and charged Medicare for both.

By settling the case UCI has admitted no wrongdoing, and in an official statement the university stressed that it “remains committed to the highest standards of patient care.” O’Connor will collect $120,000 for his participation in the case.

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