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Wilkes-Barre General Hospital&#8217;s corporate parent has agreed to pay out $13 million in a civil settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.The hospital, along with 30 others in the Community Health Systems network, was implicated in a DOJ investigation into cardiac devices implanted in Medicare patients in violation of Medicare regulations, according to a DOJ news release.Announced Friday, the settlement was one of 70 encompassing 457 hospitals in 43 states. The settling hospitals paid more than $250 million total to the United States.The DOJ alleged that between 2003 and 2010 each of the hospitals surgically embedded implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) in patients covered by Medicare during periods in which the patients were recovering from heart attacks or heart surgeries.Implanting the $25,000 devices during these periods is prohibited by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the DOJ says, in order to allow the heart time to improve function on its own.Community Health Systems released a statement Friday, saying the civil action &#8220;involved a highly technical interpretation of a Medicare national coverage determination that was the subject of strong disagreement in the medical community.&#8221;&#8220;There were no findings of wrongdoing or liability on behalf of our affiliated hospitals,&#8221; the network said, &#8220;however, we agreed to the settlement to avoid the continuing delay, uncertainty, inconvenience and expense of protracted litigation.&#8221;Community Health Systems operates Commonwealth Health, which owns Wilkes-Barre General Hospital as well as five additional medical facilities in Luzerne and surrounding counties.The DOJ said the 70 settlements were the result of a federal lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Florida by whistlelowers Leatrice Ford Richards, a cardiac nurse, and Thomas Schuhmann, a health care reimbursement consultant. The whistleblowers received more than $38 million from the settlements.The DOJ says it continues to investigate additional hospitals.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By James O&#8217;Malleyjomalley@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach James O&#8217;Malley at 570-991-6390 or on Twitter @TL_omalley.</shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre General Hospital one of 457 hospitals named in federal settlement