Indianapolis-based Community Health Network has agreed to a $345 million settlement with the Department of Justice to settle allegations of illegal physician referrals and related False Claims Act violations.
Announced Tuesday, the deal stems from a whistleblower complaint filed in 2014 by the nonprofit’s former chief financial officer and chief operating officer, Thomas Fischer, which was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) and Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
The government alleged that Community Health Network had knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare from 2008 to 2017 as part of senior management’s “illegal scheme to recruit physicians for employment for the purpose of capturing their lucrative ‘downstream referrals,’” the Justice Department said.