A Florida cardiologist has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations of healthcare fraud raised in two separate whistleblower lawsuits.

Dr. Asad Qamar and his medical practice the Institute of Cardiovascular Excellence were accused of billing Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE for procedures that were not medically necessary and for paying kickbacks to patients by improperly waiving their Medicare copayments.

The whistleblower lawsuit settlement will also require Dr. Qamar and his practice to give up any remaining claim they may have to $5.3 million in suspended Medicare funds.

In addition to the monetary penalties, Dr. Qamar and his practice will be banned from participation in federal programs for three years. Following the ban, they will be subject to a three-year integrity agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.

Despite the payments and concessions, the agreement does not require Dr. Qamar to admit any fault.

Prior to finalization of the whistleblower lawsuit settlement, patients and staff responded with passionate support for the doctor and his practice, with some of them threatening a sit-in and hunger strike if Dr. Qamar was compelled to settle.

In a letter sent to Health and Human Services on Dr. Qamar’s behalf, they claimed that closing his practice would cause hundreds of professionals to lose their jobs and the standard of care in central Florida to drop.

The government alleged that Dr. Qamar had fraudulently billed federal healthcare programs for peripheral artery interventional services that were “excessive, medically unnecessary and inadequately documented,” according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

Many of the procedures Dr. Qamar had billed the programs for were allegedly not indicated by the patients’ medical histories or the severity of their symptoms.

Compounding the alleged Medicare fraud, Dr. Qamar solicited collusion from his patients by offering to waive their 20 percent Medicare copayment in exchange for their participating in unnecessary procedures, the DOJ says. Dr. Qamar allegedly waived the copays without regard to the patients’ financial need.

Dr. Qamar received over $35 million from Medicare in 2012 and 2013, making him the highest-paid cardiologist in the U.S. for those years, according to the DOJ.

Fighting Medicare Fraud with a Whistleblower Lawsuit

The settlement was the result of two separate whistleblower lawsuits brought by two different plaintiffs, known as “relators.” The two claims were consolidated in April 2015. The relators will receive an award of over $1.3 million dollars as their share of the financial recovery.

Both the relators’ claims were brought under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. These provisions allow private persons to initiate a whistleblower lawsuit on behalf of the government if they have evidence that the defendant has made false claims for government money.

A whistleblower lawsuit gives the government the option to intervene, as it did in the case against Dr. Qamar. By intervening, the government essentially takes the relator’s place as the plaintiff.

The relator remains involved in the case, however, and can expect to receive a share of any money recovered.

According to the DOJ’s press release, since 2009 the federal government has recovered more than $29.9 billion through whistleblower lawsuits.

Of that total, over $18.3 billion was recovered based on allegations of healthcare fraud against government healthcare programs.

The Whistleblower Lawsuit is Case No. 5:11-cv-00406, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.