Indianapolis-based Community Health Network has agreed to a $345 million settlement with the Department of Justice to settle allegations of illegal physician referrals and related False Claims Act violations.
Announced Tuesday, the deal stems from a whistleblower complaint filed in 2014 by the nonprofit’s former chief financial officer and chief operating officer, Thomas Fischer, which was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) and Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
The government alleged that Community Health Network had knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare from 2008 to 2017 as part of senior management’s “illegal scheme to recruit physicians for employment for the purpose of capturing their lucrative ‘downstream referrals,’” the Justice Department said.
“The Stark Law was enacted to ensure that the clinical judgment of physicians is not corrupted by improper financial incentives,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in the announcement. “Today’s recovery demonstrates the department’s resolve to protect the integrity of federal healthcare programs and to safeguard the taxpayer dollars used to support these important programs.”
The $345 million settlement includes $167 million of restitution and is accompanied by a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement with HHS OIG, the government said.
According to the Justice...
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