Tenet Healthcare has agreed to a $29.7 million civil settlement over whistleblower claims of physician kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals at its Detroit Medical Center subsidiary, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday.
The government alleged that the False Claims Act violations occurred between 2014 and 2017 and involved two DMC hospitals—Sinai Grace Hospital and Harper University Hospital—providing the services of mid-level, employed practitioners to 13 physicians “at no cost or below fair market value in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute,” DOJ wrote in a press release.
These physicians were allegedly selected due to the large number of patients they referred to the hospitals and for the purpose of increasing Medicare referrals to DMC’s facilities, DOJ said.
The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare and other federally funded programs.
“This outcome makes clear that when doctors refer patients for care at hospitals, they must do so based on their own professional judgment and the medical needs of their patients, not personal financial benefit,” U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison for the Eastern District of Michigan said in a release announcing the settlement. “Our office stands ready to scrutinize even the most complicated financial arrangements and to pursue justice wherever appropriate.”
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