Insurance giant Geico has taken center stage in the longstanding fight over the Bayonne Medical Center, with both BMC Hospital LLC and Hudson Regional Hospital making their case that recent court actions have made their competitor unfit to run a new medical facility.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“The alleged kickback scheme unveiled this week in federal court is disturbing and supports all those who believe that Yan Moshe and Hudson Regional Healthcare cannot be trusted to responsibly operate a critical community institution like Bayonne Medical Center,” BMC Hospital Wayne Hatami said in a statement.
” … As this new lawsuit pointed out, Moshe’s surgery center may have ‘exposed a massive number of patients to bloodborne pathogens… such as hepatitis b, hepatitis c and human immunodeficiency virus.’ These surgery centers are the subject of 19 lawsuits including federal class actions as a result.”
The suit, filed in East District New York federal court on Monday, alleges that Dr. Conrad Cean used a medical center to “defraud Geico” out of $598,000 in via improper insurance claims.
Geico is also seeking $89 million in damages in a similar suit involving surgical centers owned by Moshe.
Expectedly, HRH spokesman Ron Simoncini said that the suit in question is a typical Geico tactic they utilize to avoid paying claims and has little to do with Moshe or their Secaucus facility.
“The suit involving Dr. Cean is another attempt by GEICO to avoid paying claims, in this case totaling more than $8 million, that Dr. Cean billed and has nothing to do with Yan’s facilities or management,” he said.
“This litigation is similar to more than 100 other cases brought by GEICO against medical providers in the last 12 months. This is consistent with GEICO’s well established practices of attempting to create a negotiating platform with healthcare providers.”
He also pointed out that Cean is one of many doctors at Moshe’s various surgical centers and has performed more than 3,500 cases since 2015.
Simoncini continued that the true jarring revelation pertaining to Geico is their recent settlement with the Horizon Surgical Center – a subsidiary of Surgicore which is owned by Hatami and other BMC Hospital principals.
“One aspect of that settlement relates to CODI’s Law, which requires that designated services cannot be referred to a family member without disclosure,” he began.
” … The principals agreed to discount all future GEICO billings as a means of restitution, meaning that they have accepted less than the fee scheduled amount to allow GEICO to recoup losses related to the litigation. That applies to any facilities they own now or in the future.”
HRH and BMC Hospital have been engaged in a bitter feud over the BMC since June, when both parties announced they had secured plans to move forward with acquiring the facility.
While they continue to trade heavy shots over who has the qualifications to take over the Peninsula City hospital from CarePoint Health, that decision ultimately lies with the New Jersey Department of Health – who are yet to show their hand one way or the other.
