Government
Hospital chain, doctors settle kickback claims
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 14, 2008
HealthSouth and two physicians in December agreed to pay $14.9 million to the Justice Dept. to settle allegations that the hospital chain paid kickbacks to doctors for referrals to its facilities. The government said it continues to investigate other doctors allegedly involved in the arrangement.
Alabama orthopedic surgeons James R. Andrews, MD, and Lawrence J. Lemak, MD, deny any wrongdoing and will pay $450,000 and $250,000, respectively. The government alleged that HealthSouth paid the doctors and gave them medical director positions at various hospitals in exchange for sending patients there. The doctors' attorneys could not be reached for comment.
HealthSouth will pay $14.2 million. Company executives said they settled the case to resolve issues that arose under the previous management of HealthSouth founder and former CEO Richard M. Scrushy, who was implicated in separate criminal accounting fraud scandals but was found innocent. Scrushy maintains he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/01/14/gvbf0114.htm.
