MALVERN, Pa., March 25, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioTelemetry, Inc. (Nasdaq:BEAT), the leading wireless medical technology company focused on the delivery of health information to improve quality of life and reduce cost of care, announced today the completion of the Department of Justice investigation with the signing of a settlement agreement between the two parties. Per the agreement, BioTelemetry will pay $6.4 million to the Department of Justice, which was reflected in the Company's 2014 financial statements.
The settlement relates to allegations that BioTelemetry encouraged physicians to use two non-specified diagnosis codes to ensure coverage of mobile cardiac telemetry between November 2008 and June 2011. It is the Company's belief that physicians utilized these non-specified codes for palpitations, a diagnosis that was permitted under the local coverage determination but for which no corresponding diagnosis code was provided. On June 29, 2011, Medicare eliminated this ambiguity by adding a specific diagnosis code for palpitations and removing the two non-specified diagnosis codes.
Joseph Capper, President and Chief Executive Officer of BioTelemetry, Inc., commented, "We are thankful to have the investigation completed. As previously discussed, the Company was not the original target of the investigation and was fully cooperative throughout this inquiry. While we believe the facts did not support the Government's allegations, we entered into settlement negotiations due to the cost and burden of the investigation on the Company. As the terms became more reasonable, we felt that it was in the best interest of the Company and our shareholders to settle the case. Under the terms of the agreement, there was no determination of liability and BioTelemetry made no admission of wrong doing. In addition, the Company was not required to enter into a corporate integrity agreement.
"We can now put this matter behind us and focus completely on executing our strategy in an ethical and compliant fashion, as has always been the case."
About BioTelemetry, Inc.
BioTelemetry, Inc., formerly known as CardioNet, Inc., is the leading wireless medical technology company focused on the delivery of health information to improve quality of life and reduce cost of care. The Company currently provides cardiac monitoring services, original equipment manufacturing with a primary focus on cardiac monitoring devices and centralized cardiac core laboratory services. More information can be found at www.biotelinc.com.
BioTelemetry's Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This document includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words such as "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "promises" and other words and terms of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including important factors that could delay, divert, or change any of these expectations, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. These factors include, among other things, our ability to successfully integrate the Mednet, Biomedical Systems and Radcore businesses into our business and the effect such acquisitions will have on our results of operation, our ability to successfully finalize a settlement of the Department of Justice investigation, effectiveness of our cost savings initiatives, relationships with our government and commercial payors, changes to insurance coverage and reimbursement levels for our products, the success of our sales and marketing initiatives, our ability to attract and retain talented executive management and sales personnel, our ability to identify acquisition candidates, acquire them on attractive terms and integrate their operations into our business, the commercialization of new products, market factors, internal research and development initiatives, partnered research and development initiatives, competitive product development, changes in governmental regulations and legislation, the continued consolidation of payors, acceptance of our new products and services, intellectual property protection, adverse regulatory action, and litigation success. For further details and a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, please see our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our latest periodic reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.