Cookeville (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center has agreed to pay $4.1 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act, Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute, according to the Department of Justice.
The settlement resolves allegations that financial arrangements between Cookeville Regional Medical Center and physicians associated with its physician practice, Tennessee Heart, violated Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute. As a result of the alleged violations, federal prosecutors claimed the hospital submitted false claims to Medicare and TennCare from January 2012, through December 2017.
The allegations against Cookeville Regional Medical Center were originally brought under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act by a former employee.