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 The subpoena, received on May 5, requested
information related to the 2008 launch of two brands of implanted
cardioverter defibrillators made by Boston Scientific, the company
said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators, or ICDs, treat arrhythmias
by shocking a dangerously racing heartbeat back into a normal
rhythm.
The subpoena was issued by the Office of the Inspector General of
the HHS, which is responsible for identifying fraud and waste in
government health programs such as the Medicare and Medicaid.
Boston Scientific, which competes with Medtronic Inc and St. Jude
Medical Inc in selling ICDs, said it is cooperating with the
request.
 The industry has come under increased scrutiny in recent years for
allegedly using kickbacks to gain market share and increase the use
of their devices among physicians.
Earlier this week, St. Jude Medical said it received a civil
investigative demand from the U.S. Department of Justice in April
related to its cardiac devices.
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The Justice
Department is investigating if St. Jude paid inducements to health
care providers in exchange for implanting its devices, the company
said in a filing this week.
Last October, Boston Scientific agreed to pay $30 million to
settle Department of Justice allegations that the Guidant unit it
acquired in 2006 knowingly sold defective heart devices implanted in
Medicare patients.
(Reporting by Supriya Kurane in Bangalore; Editing by Matt Driskill)
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