Some 55 U.S. hospitals agreed to pay a total of $34 million to settle U.S. Justice Dept. charges that they overcharged Medicare for Medtronic‘s (NYSE:MDT)’s kyphoplasty spine procedure, acquired in the $3.9 billion buyout of Kyphon in 2007, the Justice Dept. said today.

That takes the total settlement amount to $75 million from more than 100 hospitals, plus the $75 million Fridley, Minn.-based Medtronic paid to settle its end of the case in 2008, the government said.

All but 4 of the hospitals in the latest settlement were part of a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Kyphon employees, who are in line for about $5.5 million from the settlement, according to the Justice Dept.

Since January 2009, the feds have recovered more than $14.7 billion in False Claims Act cases, according to a press release.