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Maryland Cardiologist Given Sentence for Unnecessary Stenting
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John R. McLean, MD, of Salisbury, Md., has been sentenced to 8 years in prison and forced to pay $579,000 in restitution after being convicted of performing more than 100 unnecessary stenting procedures, according to a release issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to the release, McLean, who had a private medical practice known as John R. McLean MD and Associates and hospital privileges at the Peninsula Regional Medical Center (PRMC), both located in Salisbury, submitted insurance claims for inserting unnecessary stents, ordered unnecessary tests and made false entries in patient medical records to defraud Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers.
From at least 2003 to May 2007, McLean implanted unnecessary cardiac stents in more than 100 patients at PRMC and then falsely recorded the existence or extent of coronary lesions observed during the procedures to justify the stent and the submission of claims to health care benefit programs, the release stated. McLean also ordered his cardiac patients, including those receiving stents, to undergo a series of medically unnecessary follow-up tests, among them stress tests and ECGs.
The ruling follows 3 months after the PMRC agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle allegations that it failed to prevent medically unnecessary stenting procedures.