Indiana’s Community Health Network To Pay an Additional $135M to Settle Stark Law Case Initiated by Whistleblower
The Indiana-based Community Health Network (“Community”) will pay an additional $135 million to resolve a False Claims Act case involving Stark Law violations initiated by a whistleblower Constantine Cannon represented.
The $135 million settlement marks the final resolution of a 2014 False Claims Act case brought by whistleblower Thomas P. Fischer, former Community Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. In December 2023, the United States and Community settled the first part of this case for $345 million—the largest Stark Law settlement to date.
The whistleblower alleged that Community their physicians salaries that were significantly higher than fair market value in exchange for referrals and submitted claims to Medicare for the referred services. This scheme included physicians employed by Community and the independent oncology group, Community Hospital Oncology Providers. Community allegedly offered these exorbitant payments to physicians to induce them to refer patients to Community’s facilities in violation of the Stark Law.
Fischer brought the case under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private individuals to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the government and to share any recovery.
In 2015, Community paid $20.3 million to resolve a separate False Claims Act case alleging inflated Medicare and Medicaid billing for outpatient surgeries at ambulatory centers billed as hospital procedures.
Altogether over the last ten years, Community has paid over $500M to resolve False Claims Act cases.
The Fischer case is captioned U.S. and State of Indiana ex rel Fischer v. Community Health Network, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-1215-RLY-MKK.
The government counts on whistleblowers like Fischer to report fraud and other misconduct. We applaud Fischer for taking action with his courageous efforts.
If you would like to learn more about health care fraud, the False Claims Act, what it means to be a whistleblower, or believe you have a case, please contact us. We will connect you with an experienced member of our whistleblower team.
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