A Baltimore ophthalmologist agreed to a 20-year ban from federal healthcare programs and a $1.4 million penalty to settle charges that he bilked Medicare and Medicaid for unnecessary laser eye surgeries.
Federal prosecutors accused Dr. John Kiely, who denied the allegations, of performing unneeded trabeculoplasties and peripheral iridotomies to treat glaucoma and adhesion lysis procedures between October 2002 and April 2009. Most of the procedures were performed at Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore, according to a press release.
"Kiely performed between 3 and 14 [argon laser trabeculoplasties] per eye on the 120 patients identified in the civil complaint, and also performed repeated laser peripheral iridotomies and lysis of adhesions on many of these patients," according to a statement from the office of Maryland DA Rod Rosenstein.
One patient allegedly received 15 trabeculoplasties between August 1998 and April 2004, according to court records, and eventually lost sight in the right eye. Kiely, who reportedly left Bon Secours in 2009, denied all of the allegations, according to court documents.
"Each of the medical procedures performed by Dr. Kiely, for which claims were submitted by him and/or on his behalf to Medicare and/or Medicaid were performed, reasonable and medically necessary," according to the documents. "Dr. Kiely did not cause fraudulent/false claims to be submitted to Medicare and/or Medicaid for procedures that were either not performed and/or were not medically necessary."
