Updated: Ocilla Hospital settles with government

OCILLA, GA (WALB) - The Hospital Authority of Irwin County, Dr. Mahendra Amin, Dr. Ashfaq Saiyed, Dr. Romana Bairan, Dr. Arturo Ruanto, Dr. Concordio Ursal, Dr. Drew Howard, Dr. Steve Anderson, Dr. Robert Reese, and Dr. Marshall Tanner of Irwin Co. Hospital in Ocilla have agreed to pay $520,000 to the government, to resolve allegations that they caused false claims to be submitted to Medicare and Medicaid.

John Croley, the attorney for Dr. Robert Reese, says Dr. Reese and his insurance carrier are not paying any of this $520,000 settlement.

Croley says the Hospital Authority of Irwin County has notified him and his client that the authority will pay the entire settlement, and that his client was never served with a copy of the suit.

This investigation began with a lawsuit filed by Connie Brogdon and Summer Holland under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act and the Georgia False Medicaid Claims Act. Ms. Brogdon and Ms. Holland will receive a share of the settlement payment.

The Hospital Authority of Irwin County issued this release Thursday afternoon-

In January 2015, Irwin County Hospital (hereinafter "ICH") agreed to a civil settlement with the government pursuant to a False Claims Act case filed in federal court alleging various regulatory violations. As the U.S. Department of Justice stated in its press release, ICH fully cooperated in the investigation, and agreed to resolve the allegations by way of a civil settlement, with neither an admission nor determination of liability.

Unfortunately, several news stories contained inaccurate information regarding certain individual physicians. To clarify, no physician paid any amount of money as part of the settlement, and each of the physicians were released from any and all liability.

Inquiries regarding the case should be directed to ICH's legal counsel Scott Grubman at (404) 262-6505.

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