A status conference which may result in the settlement of a Whistleblower case against doctors Peter Vaccaro and Kamran Saleh has been set for May 28 in Pittsburgh.
Settlement negotiations have been in the works for several months between the U.S. Attorney’s office and attorneys for Vaccaro and Saleh in a lawsuit stemming back to 2004. The suit was filed by doctors Dilbagh Singh, V. Rao Nadella, Paul Kirsch and Martin Jacobs, acting on behalf of the U.S., against Bradford Regional Medical Center, V&S Medical Associates and Vaccaro and Saleh.
The original suit alleged BRMC had paid kickbacks to Vaccaro and Saleh for patient referrals, a practice that went on for several years; and was turning the bills for the referred patients in to Medicare for reimbursement, which amounted to fraud. BRMC officials settled in 2012 for $2.75 million without admitting to any wrongdoing. The case against Vaccaro and Saleh alleges violations of the federal False Claims Act, the Stark Law and the Medicare anti-kickback statute.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Skirtich filed a motion late last month saying a proposed settlement agreement has been approved by a designee of the Attorney General of the United States, and by attorneys for Vaccaro and Saleh. However, according to the motion, the attorneys for Singh, Nadella, Kirsch and Jacobs “have indicated they do not have approval from their clients to sign the settlement agreement.” Rather, the attorneys asked that all references to the four doctors who filed the suit be removed from the agreement, and that an abridged version be executed between the government and Vaccaro and Saleh, the motion read.
Instead, Skirtich asked for a status conference to be scheduled, wherein all parties can “discuss the current stance of the case and next steps.”
The motion continued, “In the meantime, counsel for the United States will attempt to work informally with all parties to try to resolve the remaining issues prior to the scheduled status conference.”
On April 22, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Maurice Cohill Jr. issued an order setting a status conference for 11 a.m. May 28 at the U.S. Courthouse in Pittsburgh, and ordered all attorneys and parties to attend the conference.
The case had been set for trial beginning May 19. That has been postponed for at least 45 days.
