The Stark Law False Claims Act payment of $345 million is approximately three times more than any previous settlement, according to Fischer’s legal firm, Joseph Greenwald & Laake P.A.
The dispute against Community, which has carried on for more than nine years and involves more than 700 files in the court docket, may be resolved in large part due to the settlement deal. However, Fischer’s attorneys stated that they intend to keep pursuing recovery for a few matters for which the Justice Department rejected their assertions.
In addition to hundreds of clinics, surgical centers, and urgent care facilities, Community Health also runs eight hospitals.
According to the Justice Department, Community paid “well above fair market value” to its cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, vascular surgeons, neurosurgeons, and breast surgeons. It stated that the Community gave doctors compensation based on how many recommendations they made.
According to the government, Community even recruited valuation companies to examine the remuneration since it was fully aware of the provisions of the Stark Law regarding physician compensation. One of the companies, Katz Sapper & Miller, located in Indianapolis, came to the conclusion that the pay was “high compared to productivity in all specialties and primary care” and “staggering.”
The other, Chicago-based Sullivan Cotter, discovered that the wages had to go below the 75th percentile of the country’s benchmark salary statistics because they were beyond fair-market value.
Nevertheless, the Justice Department said that Community “knowingly provided the firm with false compensation figures so that the firm would render a favorable opinion.”
It further stated, “Community ignored repeated warnings from the valuation firm regarding the legal perils of overcompensating the physicians.”
Zachary Myers, the United States attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, stated in a statement that