WPXI – UPMC will pay $38 million to settle a 12-year-old False Claims Act lawsuit. The settlement resolves a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2012 by neurosurgeon J. William Bookwalter, neurophysiologist Robert Sclabassi, and surgical technologist Anna Mitina. It had a partial settlement in 2016. The False Claims Act allows private citizens to file suit on behalf of the government to recover money back to the United States Treasury for false claims submitted to federal healthcare programs. Under the Stark Law, hospitals are prohibited from submitting claims to Medicare and Medicaid for procedures, surgeries, and other services furnished pursuant to referrals from physicians who have a financial relationship with the hospital, unless the relationship falls within a statutory exception. Claims submitted in violation of the Stark Law are false claims under the False Claims Act, and any money paid on such claims must be returned to the government, a press release said. Among other things, the allegations resolved by this settlement include that certain neurosurgeons were paid excessive compensation (well-above fair market value) by UPMC, and that those surgeons referred procedures and surgeries to UPMC in violation of the Stark Law, a press release said. Dr. Bookwalter, Dr. Sclabassi and Ms. Mitina alleged that UPMC and its employed neurosurgeons engaged in fraudulent schemes that boosted both the neurosurgeons’ pay and UPMC’s revenues. The $38 million settlement is believed to be one of the largest Stark Law recoveries in a False Claims Act case where the United States declined to intervene.