Memphis, Tenn.-based Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and its Methodist Healthcare-Memphis Hospitals have paid $7.25 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations along with kickback allegations.
Methodist had a multi-agreement affiliation with Memphis-based the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Memphis-based the West Clinic from December 2011 to February 2019 — agreements the health system allegedly used to pay kickbacks to West Clinic , according to a Jan. 4 news release from the Justice Department.
The affiliation ended in 2019, the release said.
The settlement also reportedly features the resolution of claims brought under the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions by Jeffrey Liebman, former president of Methodist University Hospital, and David Stern, former dean of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Mr. Liebman and Mr. Stern will receive part of the recovery, the release said.