The H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa will pay more than $19.5 million in a settlement related to improper billing of government health care programs, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.
The settlement said Moffitt in December 2020 disclosed that “issues with its billing systems and practices had resulted in Moffitt billing federal health care programs for services provided during certain clinical research studies for which Moffitt should not have received payment.”
The federal government and Florida contended that Moffitt from 2014 to 2020 submitted improper claims to Medicare, Medicaid and the TRICARE military health-care program.
“Specifically, Moffitt billed federal health care programs for patient care items and services provided as part of clinical trial research that should have been billed to trial sponsors or, customarily, should have been provided free-of-charge for beneficiaries enrolled in clinical trials,” the settlement said.
Moffitt, which cooperated with the investigation, will pay $18,244,242 to the federal government and $1,320,500 to Florida. The state money is related to Medicaid, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments.
