The New-Jersey based Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton will pay $6.35 million to settle allegations that it defrauded Medicare.  Allegedly, the hospital fraudulently inflated charges to its Medicare patients so that the federal health care program would provide them with larger reimbursements. 

Two lawsuits were filed claiming that the hospital inflated its charges in order to obtain additional outlier payments from Medicare.  These payments are provided in cases where the cost of patient care is unusually high so that hospitals have an incentive to treat patients requiring such care.

The two lawsuits were filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act.  Under the civil settlement, the whistleblowers will receive $1,111,250 out of the total recovery. 

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