U.S. Attorney announces $10.8M settlement with St. Peter’s Health, civil suit filed against Weiner (2024)

The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday said it has reached a $10.8 million settlement with St. Peter’s Health to resolve an alleged violation of the False Claims Act and announced it has filed a civil suit against a former oncologist at the hospital for false health care claims and improper prescribing of controlled substances.

U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said in a news conference the issue is related to Dr. Thomas Weiner, an oncologist now embroiled in a wrongful termination suit with the hospital that is now in the Montana Supreme Court.

Weiner's attorney,Deanne McClung of Denver-based Hall & Evans, offered comment on the civil lawsuit filed against her client:

"While we do not generally comment on pending litigation, Dr. Weiner denied all wrongdoing and asserts that these proceedings are the result of ongoing employment litigation with St. Peter’s Hospital," she said. "We are confident that when the evidence is presented, Dr. Weiner will be exonerated."

The agreement between the federal government and St. Peter’s, signed Aug. 26, states St. Peter’s is to pay the settlement within 30 days.

St. Peter’s Health Chief Executive Officer Wade Johnson saidit will be paid out of financial reserves. He said the hospital was preparing for this payout since 2020 when it submitted its self-report.

He said the settlement represents 7% of those funds "so while significant, it will not effect our capital or operating budgets."

“We believe this to be an isolated situation,” he said. "Acting with integrity is important to us, so the decision to self-report in 2020 was made without hesitation.”

Laslovich said $10 million of the settlement will go directly to the agencies violated and the remainder would go to the federal government.

St. Peter’s violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for payments to federal health care programs relating to services performed and referred by Weiner, an oncologist employed at its cancer treatment center, according to the settlement agreement.

The government alleged that between Jan. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2020, St. Peter’s, relying on Weiner’s documentation and certification, submitted claims which were determined to be false. St. Peter’s knew, or should have known, that Weiner submitted claims for office visits that were coded at a higher level of service than was actually performed or did not meet the requirements of a significant, separately identifiable service when performed on the same day as administration of chemotherapy.

Further, St. Peter’s, relying on Weiner’s documentation and certification, compensated Weiner with a salary that was based on the false claims, and therefore, caused his salary to be inconsistent with fair market value.

The settlement agreement credits St. Peter’s for voluntarily self-disclosing the misconduct, but federal officials said Tuesday they were investigating St. Peter’s before the hospital came forward.

St. Peter’s also performed and disclosed the results of an internal investigation; disclosed documents beyond existing business practices or legal requirements; identified individuals who were aware of relevant information or conduct; made officers and employees available for interviews; assisted in determining the losses caused by the misconduct; and has enhanced its corporate compliance program, Laslovich said.

He said the length of time to resolve this issue was not due to lack of effort or priority, but rather a reflection of this case.

Laslovich, who lives in Helena, said that he recognized that what happened between Weiner and St. Peter’s Health has divided the community.

“It’s a community that my wife and I call home,” he said. “Both of our kids were born at St. Peter’s Health … Today’s settlement, in my view, is not an indictment on the quality of care being provided at St. Peter’s Health as well as their doctors and providers. Nor is it a reflection of the current leadership of St. Peter’s Health as this leadership team voluntarily self-disclosed the misconduct.”

He said the settlement represents violations of the False Claims Act when Weiner was employed at St. Peter’s Health.

“And this settlement should serve as notice to all Montana health care providers … that they simply must submit accurate claims when billing for taxpayer-supported federal health care programs for services rendered.”

Laslovich then said the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a civil suit against Weiner in U.S. District Court in Helena on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and the Drug Enforcement Administration for false health care claims and improper prescribing on controlled substances.

They claim in a 41-page filing Weiner used his position as chief medical oncologist at St. Peter’s Cancer Treatment Center to order medically unnecessary treatment such as chemotherapy, blood tests, imaging and office visits.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is seeking money Weiner obtained unjustly, the maximum civil penalty as allowed by law and Weiner being prohibited from issuing prescriptions for substances for no less than five years.

Laslovich declined to answer a question during the news conference regarding whether his office would pursue criminal charges against Weiner.

Weiner joined St. Peter’s in 1996, had worked as director of the Cancer Treatment Center and had served as chief of staff and chair of the Medical Executive Committee.

He was seeing an estimated 300 patients a week, or had nearly 15,000 patient contacts a year, court documents state. The civil suit states that since 2016 he was the hospital's highest paid medical provider working for St. Peter's. AnIRS 990 for St. Peter's Health for the 2020 calendar year showed Weiner was paid $1.8 million.

The hospital’s peer review committee sent him a letter in February 2020, requesting an investigation into his patient care, court documents state. This included concerns of “manipulation of do not resuscitate status of patients without their consent, substandard care of patients for non-oncological medical issues, concern of application of end-of-life care for patients and continuing cardiotoxic chemotherapy in patients."

St. Peter’s Health said Weiner had incorrectly treated a patient for lung cancer for 11 years before it was determined that the person did not have the disease at the time of death. The hospital’s legal counsel said in court documents that it learned of “alarming narcotic prescribing practices” by Weiner.

In a Dec. 6, 2020, letter to the editor to the Independent Record, Weiner wrote that his problems with St. Peter's date back to at least 2016, when the CEO at the time allegedly threatened to terminate him.

“For years, I arrived at the hospital around 5:15 a.m. and did not leave until around 6:30 p.m. at the earliest, five days a week, plus working practically every weekend. There has been no other medical oncologist on the medical staff so I have been on call every day.”

On Aug. 31, a Lewis and Clark County District Court judge dismissed Weiner’s wrongful termination lawsuit in a 31-page decision that found St. Peter’s Health officials followed proper due process when they suspended his medical privileges in late 2020 after reviews into patient care.

Weiner still has community support from former patients, their families and others.

St. Peter’s held a news conference later Tuesday morning, after the U.S. Attorney's news conference, inside the hospital.

CEO Wade Johnson said authorities contend St. Peter’s “overcompensated” what it paid Weiner and it was above fair-market value and triggered a violation of federal law.

He said the bottom line is that St. Peter’s is responsible for the claims it submits. He said the fact St. Peter’s self-reported and notified the federal government had “significant impact” on how this matter was resolved.

“We followed the required protocol and cooperated fully with the government throughout this process,” he said. “St. Peter’s is an organization of integrity and we have accountability of what occurred before Dr. Weiner’s dismissal in 2020. I am beyond proud of our administration and medical staff leadership for living their values through a difficult and demoralizing situation.”

Johnson said he was confident this issue was isolated to a former physician no longer associated with St. Peter’s.

He said St. Peter's is focused on moving forward. He also noted the hospital has updated processes in an effort to prevent this from happening again.

"Ultimately we do trust our physicians to document appropriately," he said.

Bob Wade, an outside attorney who helped St. Peter's through this process, said health care is the most regulated industry in the country. He said organizations are encouraged to report violations when discovered. He said he hoped the community sees this as a positive resolution.

Board Chair George "Russ" Bell said St. Peter's Health exists only to serve its people.

"Doctors, nurses, leaders, in fact everyone else who works here is nothing short of amazing," he said.