Lawrence Memorial Hospital is denying claims made by a former employee that it defrauded the federal government for financial gain.

The whistleblower lawsuit filed by former emergency room nurse Megen Duffy, alleges that LMH falsified records to gain incentive payments. LMH’s response to the lawsuit denies all claims, calling them baseless and “scurrilous accusations.”

“We feel very confident that the justice system is going to prove the plaintiff complaint without merit,” said Janice Early, vice president of marketing and communications for LMH.

The lawsuit, filed in May 2014 in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., was unsealed in June of this year. It alleges that LMH systematically falsified arrival times of some patients in order to reflect shorter wait times, qualifying LMH for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments. LMH’s response to the lawsuit, filed last week, says that LMH does not have any policies, practices or intention to defraud the government and countersues Duffy for breach of contract and fraud.

Early said that LMH takes very seriously any allegation about how it cares for patients and the process for documenting their treatment. LMH has conducted both an internal and independent investigation into the matter, she said.

“We believe we have been accurate and truthful, and we categorically deny allegations that our staff falsified patient documentation in order to maximize reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid,” Early said.

In its response to the lawsuit, LMH said its measures related to the incentive payments in question had been validated by federal officials with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on multiple occasions since 2011.

The lawsuit alleges that arrival times in the Emergency Department of patients with chest pains were falsified to coincide with times automatically generated when patients were connected to electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors. Using the ECG time as the arrival time, the lawsuit says, conceals any time the patient spent in the waiting room, at registration or in triage.

LMH’s response says that the lawsuit mischaracterizes and selectively quotes from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services specifications manual, including overlooking provisions that the arrival time may differ from the admission time and that ECG reports may be used to document arrival time.

LMH’s response also says that Duffy was fired from her position at LMH in part for sending threatening text messages to a coworker and “engaging in disruptive behavior.” In the lawsuit, Duffy claims she was fired because she objected to falsifying arrival times and that the threatening text was a “fabricated reason.”

Also part of the hospital’s response, a counterclaim by LMH accuses Duffy of breach of contract and fraud, alleging that as part of her termination settlement — that paid Duffy $9,000 for lost wages and compensatory damages — she agreed not to file further claims against LMH and stated there were not any other claims pending.

The lawsuit was filed through Duffy’s attorney, Robert Collins, of Olathe, who said that because the claim was “under seal,” it would have been against the law for Duffy to disclose it. Collins said that it is the time-tested strategy of defendants in whistleblower cases to attack the messenger instead of confronting the facts.

“The defense may try to create distractions, but the ball to keep one’s eye on in this case is that this suit is about patient safety, plain and simple,” Collins said in an email. “And it is about patient safety the government was paying incentive payments to ensure without getting what it paid for.”