Improper Financial Ties Between Hospitals and Their Referring Physicians
On Friday, September 9, 2011, the Department of Justice announced that the United States has partially intervened in a False Claims Act lawsuit against Halifax Hospital Medical Center located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Halifax Staffing, Inc.[1] The case was initially filed in July 2009 by the current Director of Physician Services for Halifax Staffing. A Second Amended Complaint, filed in February 2011, alleged that Halifax “improperly admitted thousands of inpatients even though no medical necessity existed for the admissions and the Defendants have routinely paid excessive compensation, and provided illegal kickbacks, profit-sharing incentives, as well as compensation pooling, to physicians in violation of the Stark and Federal Anti-Kickback laws.”[2]
The government has partially intervened with respect to allegations that Halifax violated the Stark law[3], which prohibits hospitals and other entities from submitting claims to Medicare for certain health care services referred by physicians with an improper financial relationship with the hospital or other entity. Here, the U.S. alleges that “Halifax’s contracts with three neurosurgeons and six medical oncologists were improper, in part, because they either paid physicians more than fair market value, were not commercially reasonable or took into consideration the volume or value of the physicians’ referrals.”[4]
According to Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, “Improper financial arrangements between hospitals and physicians threaten patient safety because personal financial considerations, instead of what's best for the patient, can influence the type of health care that is provided.” [5]
The government’s involvement in this case is part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), an initiative by the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services to focus efforts on reducing and preventing Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation. Robert E. O’Neill, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, said that “[b]y bringing cases such as this one, we hope to ensure that precious health care resources are not being wasted as a result of questionable financial relationships between health care providers.”[6]
[1] U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “U.S. Joined False Claims Act Lawsuit Against Florida’s Halifax Hospital Medical Center and Halifax Staffing, Inc.,” (Sept. 9, 2011), available at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/September/11-civ-1162.html (hereafter “DOJ Announcement”).
[2] U.S. ex rel. Baklid-Kunz v. Halifax Hosp. Med. Ctr., et al., Case No. 6:09-cv-1002 (M.D. Fla.) (Doc. 29).
[3] 42 U.S.C. § 1395nn, et. seq.
[4] DOJ Announcement.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
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Melanie Garner is an attorney at Waters & Kraus, LLP, in the firm's Baltimore office. She focuses her practice on toxic tort, product liability, and qui tam (whistleblower) cases.
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