The U.S. Department of Justice has reached settlement agreements totaling $9.4 million with hospitals in seven states to settle allegations they submitted false claims to Medicare.

The agreements follow settlements the government reached in 2009 with nine other hospitals for fraud claims, as well as the government's 2008 settlement with Medtronic Spine LLC, corporate successor to Kyphon Inc. Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT), which has offices in Amherst, paid $75 million to settle allegations the company defrauded Medicare by counseling providers to perform a procedure used to treat spinal fractures as an inpatient procedure, even though in many cases it should have been done on an outpatient basis.

The case was handled by William Hochul Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York in Buffalo.

None of the hospitals involved are located in Western New York, though the lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Buffalo through the False Claims Act by Craig Patrick and Charles Bates. Both men formerly worked for Kyphon and filed the action through the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act. They will receive approximately $1.5 million as their share of the settlement proceeds.

The settlement was the result of a coordinated effort between the DOJ civil division, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York and the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General and Office of Counsel to the Inspector General.

Hochul's office said it will continue to aggressively pursue allegations of wrongdoing under the False Claims Act.