Wichita Cardiologist Dr. Joseph Galichia and his Galichia Medical Group has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit, accusing them of violating the False Claims Act.

It began in 2014 with lawsuit filed by Dr. Aly Gadalla who worked for the Galichia Medical Group.  The lawsuit was filed under the False Claims Act, sometimes referred to as the Whistleblower’s Act, that allows private citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the federal government for false claims or defrauding the government.  The government can then chose to take over the case, and the person who filed the suit receives a share of the settlement.

In a written statement, Dr. Galichia denied the allegations made by Dr. Gadalla and the federal government.   The statement said Dr. Galichia agreed to the settlement because fighting the actino was taking up too much of his time and energy.   He called this “a matter of legal bullying” and he is calling on Congress to prevent prosecutors in the future from attempting to practice medicine in the courts or by threat of legal action.   The full text of the statement is available at the link below.

Read Statement from Dr. Galichia and his representatives

Galichia and the Galichia Medical Group were accused of performing medically unnecessary heart stent procedures on patients from Jan 1, 2008 to December of 2014.  They then submitted false billings to programs like Medicare, the Defense Health Agency, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

This is the third False Claims Act settlement with Galichia and GMED. In 2009, Galichia and GMED paid $1.3 million to settle allegations that they submitted claims for services not provided or lacking proper documentation. In 2000, Galichia and GMED paid $1.5 million to settle allegations that they submitted claims for a higher level of service than provided, billed twice for the same services, and billed for services not provided.

Galichia has agreed to pay $5.8 million to resolve the latest lawsuit.  Dr. Gadalla, who originally filed the suit, will receive around $1.16 million from the settlement.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas and the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, the FBI, the Defense Health Agency on behalf of the TRICARE program, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the Inspector General for the Department of Defense, and the Office of Personnel Management, Office of Inspector General.