August 27, 2024
Today, St. Peter’s publicly announced a $10.8 million dollar settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve an alleged violation of the False Claims Act. The matter involves St. Peter’s self-disclosure of overpayments for healthcare services performed, ordered and referred by Dr. Thomas Weiner, an oncologist who is no longer employed by St. Peter’s.
This is a legal settlement between the Department of Justice and St. Peter’s, so there is limited information we can share beyond what’s in the release. However, I would like to emphasize a few important points:
- We believe this is an isolated situation.
- When we discovered there was a potential issue we did the right thing and self-reported, and we were credited by the Department of Justice for taking this action. We trust our physicians to document and code accurately, but as the health system, St. Peter’s is ultimately responsible.
- While this is a significant financial settlement, we are prepared and will pay this out of our reserves. We have no plans to reduce staff or services as a result of this settlement. We will continue managing our finances conservatively so we can keep investing in our people, operations, and community.
- Today, there is a much greater degree of rigor around our compliance program. We’ve spent significant time and energy improving processes and educating staff and providers on coding and billing. In fact, some of the changes and improvements we’ve made helped us to identify this issue in the first place.
While this has been challenging to work through over the last few years, I am grateful we identified the problem and worked with integrity to resolve it. I am immensely proud of our team and the exceptional care and service we provide to our community. Now, we can turn even more of our energy and focus on improving the health and wellness of those we serve. Our future at St. Peter’s is brighter than ever.
