Kansas doctor to pay near $6M settlement for false billings

WICHITA, Kan. – Federal prosecutors say a Wichita cardiologist has agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle claims that he and his medical group improperly billed federal health care programs for medically unnecessary cardiac stent procedures.

The Justice Department said in a news release Thursday that Joseph Galichia and his medical group, Galichia Medical Group, also agreed to be banned for three years from participation in any federal health care program, such as Medicaid and Medicare.

Prosecutors say Galichia and his group knowingly submitted false billings from 2008 through 2014 for surgically implanted coronary stents that were not medically necessary. The billings were submitted to Medicare, the Defence Health Agency, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

The Justice Department says it’s the government’s third such settlement with Galichia and his medical group since 2000.