Texas Hospital Pays $48 Million to Settle False Claims and Kickback Charges
Case: In one of the largest kickback settlements of 2020, Texas Heart Hospital of the Southwest, a partially physician-owned hospital, and its management company subsidiary (which we’ll refer to collectively as Heart Hospital) have agreed to shell out $48 million to settle federal healthcare fraud charges. The first thing Heart Hospital allegedly did wrong was requiring physicians to satisfy annual 48 patient contacts per year to maintain ownership in the hospital, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law. By subsequently billing Medicare for services provided to patients as a result of those illegal arrangements, Heart Hospital then violated the False Claims Act. Significance: The case began when two former physician owners, Mitchell Magee and Todd Dewey, brought a whistleblower lawsuit against Heart Hospital. As a reward, they will split a $13.9 million share of the recovery.
Case: In one of the largest kickback settlements of 2020, Texas Heart Hospital of the Southwest, a partially physician-owned hospital, and its management company subsidiary (which we’ll refer to collectively as Heart Hospital) have agreed to shell out $48 million to settle federal healthcare fraud charges. The first thing Heart Hospital allegedly did wrong was requiring physicians to satisfy annual 48 patient contacts per year to maintain ownership in the hospital, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law. By subsequently billing Medicare for services provided to patients as a result of those illegal arrangements, Heart Hospital then violated the False Claims Act.
Significance: The case began when two former physician owners, Mitchell Magee and Todd Dewey, brought a whistleblower lawsuit against Heart Hospital. As a reward, they will split a $13.9 million share of the recovery.
Subscribe to view Essential
Start a Free Trial for immediate access to this article