G2 News-At-A-Glance: Stark Case Against Halifax Hospital to Proceed

The District Court of Middle Florida partially granted the government a summary judgment motion against Halifax Hospital Medical Center in a ruling filed on Nov. 11 indicating that Halifax failed to demonstrate that bonus compensation arrangements it made with medical oncologists satisfied a Stark law exception. What remains unsettled in this whistleblower suit is the extent of the violations and the resulting financial penalty Halifax will ultimately have to pay. Also still in contention as a result of this suit are False Claims Act violations and other Stark law violations. According to the allegations made by the relator in the case, Elin Baklid-Kunz, there are 74,838 false claims allowing for potential damages between $400 million and $800 million. The government is also seeking $315 million for legal fees resulting in a settlement of over $1 billion. The case is scheduled for trial in March 2014.