| Recently, Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, | | | | sanctions being brought against them. But that |
| Iowa agreed to fork over a huge $4.5 million to | | | | doesn't mean that the government couldn't |
| settle a federal False Claims Act lawsuit involving | | | | impose a civil or criminal penalty against both the |
| alleged Stark Law violations. The case in point | | | | hospital in Stark cases. |
| teaches some lessons to hospitals and physicians | | | | According to legal experts, the Covenant case |
| trying to survive a growing government | | | | sounds a warning bell for two key reasons - First, |
| crackdown on fraud and abuse. | | | | the government targeted employment |
| According to the US government, Covenant | | | | relationships, which it typically hasn't done under |
| submitted false claims to Medicare because it had | | | | Stark or as kickbacks. Second, a dissatisfied |
| overpaid five employed physicians who referred | | | | competitor of Covenant reportedly enthused the |
| patients to the hospital for services - a verboten | | | | legal trouble for the not-for-profit medical center. |
| practice under the physician self-referral Stark law. | | | | Attorney William Mathias says that based on the |
| The Department of Justice (DOJ), in a news | | | | background he's heard, the competitor saw that |
| release announcing the settlement agreement, | | | | Covenant's IRS form showed Covenant was |
| noted that the Covenant physicians featured | | | | "giving its physicians a much better deal than the |
| among the best paid hospital-employed physicians | | | | competitor" was giving its physicians. He also |
| not just in Iowa, but throughout the country. | | | | predicts that there will be more and more of this |
| As far as the fates of the physicians are | | | | type of activity on the part of competing |
| concerned, the DOJ does not anticipate any | | | | providers. |