Real Estate: Saint Michael's Medical Center

St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark is settling charges it billed the federal government for unnecessary procedures. (Alex Remnick |The Star-Ledger)

NEWARK -- St. Michael's Medical Center is settling federal whistleblower charges that some of its physicians performed medically unnecessary cardiac and kidney procedures and then billed federal health care programs for the costs.

The Newark-based hospital will pay $450,000 to settle the charges, which were brought to federal prosecutors' attention by a hospital insider four years ago.

According to the settlement order, St. Michael's and four physicians between January of 2009 and January of 2015 "knowingly" filed false claims for payment of renal and carotid catheterizations and cardiac procedures, including angiograms and implanting stents that were medically unnecessary.

The physicians were not identified in the settlement.

Under the terms of the settlement, St. Michael's admits no liability for the false claims.

In a statement, St. Michael's attorney Bruce Levy said the center was happy to resolve the issue without admission of liability.

St. Michael's, or SMMC, "never knowingly submitted false claims and always acted in the best interests of its patients.," he said. "SMMC has been fully cooperating with the U.S. Attorney's Office during the course of its investigation. SMMC elected to settle this matter to avoid the additional legal and defense costs in what was already a four-year investigation."

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said agents from the FBI and the Dept. of Health and Human Service's Office of Inspector General led the investigation leading to the settlement.

According to the settlement, St. Michael's will pay $22,500 to the state of New Jersey for its share of Medicaid billings. The rest, $427,500, will be paid to the federal government for Medicare and the federal share of Medicaid.

Since whistleblowers by law get to share in the proceeds of the settlement, the unnamed individual who alerted prosecutors to the issue will receive $112,500 from the state and federal governments.

The hospital, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, was sold to Prime Healthcare Services, which owns or operates 43 acute care hospitals in 14 states.

Tim Darragh may be reached at tdarragh@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @timdarragh. Find NJ.com on Facebook.