A Weirton hospital will pay $1.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly submitting or causing the submission of claims to Medicare in violation of the Physician Self-Referral Law.
Weirton Medical Center agreed to pay that settlement, which is based on the hospital’s financial condition after it voluntarily disclosed potential violations of the Physician Self-Referral Law, also known as the Stark Law, according to a release from the United States Department of Justice.
The Stark Law prohibits a hospital from billing Medicare for certain services referred by physicians with whom the hospital has a financial relationship unless that relationship satisfies one of the law’s statutory or regulatory exceptions. The Stark Law ensures that medical decision-making is not compromised by improper financial incentives, and instead based on the patients’ best interests.
The settlement resolves Weirton Medical Center’s liability under the False Claims Act for submitting claims to Medicare that resulted from violations of the Stark Law due to payment of compensation to referring physicians that allegedly exceeded fair market value or took into account the volume or value of the physicians’ referrals to the hospital.
“Health care decisions should be based on patients’ medical needs, not physicians’ financial interests,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “The...
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