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Last updated on Monday, November 16, 2015
(INDIANAPOLIS) - Opening arguments are underway in a case involving IU Health.
The health care system is in federal court for allegedly cheating taxpayers out of $100 million.
A local doctor filed a whistleblower suit earlier this year. He claims that IU Health and Healthnet were cashing in while risking the health of low-income mothers and their babies.
According to 13 investigates Dr. Judith Robinson witnessed several cases where low-income mothers with high-risk pregnancies did not get the care they needed.
According to Robinson and the $100 million federal lawsuit: IU Health failed to provide crucial doctor services, but billed Medicaid at the doctors rate in those same high-risk cases knowing midwives actually provided the treatment.
According to the complaint it was a financial scheme in which IU Health collected three times more by listing a doctor as opposed to a midwife.
In another email, the chief at HealthNet reportedly writes: "Certified Nurse Midwives get paid 1/3 to 1/2 what Ob/Gyns get paid."
Robins says financial aspects are more important to some large health institutions rather than patient care issues.
Concern over the problems date back to November 2010, when Robinson got a email about high-risk moms being treated one night without appropriate physicians on hand.
Robinson says she alerted top administrators, but six months after she says she offered up proof she was fired.
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