Hill-Rom, a company located in Batesville, Indiana, manufacturers hospital beds.  In particular it produces bed supports designed to treat pressure ulcers and bedsores.  According to the recently settled  qui tam case, over the last decade Hill-Rom has been fraudulently billing Medicare for supplying beds, and bed supports to patients who did not qualify for the use of the medical equipment.  The qui tam case settled for $41.8 million. It represents the largest settlement recovered in the Eastern District of Tennessee.

According to the settlement, Hill-Rom submitted claims to Medicare for patients who did not qualify for the equipment, including patients who had died, patients no longer using the equipment or had been moved to nursing homes.  Hill-Rom provided this equipment nationwide and according to the Department of Justice there were hundreds of thousand of patients involved.  Hill-Rom provided incentives such as gift certificates and large televisions to its sales representatives for boosting sales.  Even though an internal audit in 2003 revealed the billing errors, Hill-Rom did not correct them.

In addition to the large civil monetary settlement, Hill-Rom also entered a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Department of Justice that will ensure the company five years of close federal scrutiny.