Doctor accused of submitting hundreds of false claims steps down as chair of a department in UPMC

PITTSBURGH — The head of a UPMC department is stepping down as chair.

Dr. James Luketich is stepping down as chair of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department.

Paul Wood with UPMC released a statement on Luketich stepping down, saying:

“Dr Luketich is stepping down as chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. He will continue to perform his clinical responsibilities as well as his research related to minimally invasive surgical approaches to thoracic and esophageal surgery and the multidisciplinary management of esophagogastric carcinoma and lung cancer. He will also continue to hold the Henry T. Bahnson Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery.”

In 2021, Luketich was named in a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

After a two-year-long investigation, the doctor was accused of forcing patients to endure hours of unnecessary anesthesia while regularly performing as many as three complex surgical procedures at a time and failed to participate in all the “key and critical” parts of those surgeries.

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The lawsuit also claimed Luketich knowingly submitted hundreds of false claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and other government health programs over the course of six years.

UPMC agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle the lawsuit.

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