Delaware's Christiana Care Settles Whistleblower Kickback Suit for $3.3M

Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del., has agreed to pay $3.3 million to settle claims made by a whistleblower that the health system allegedly paid kickback to neurologists for referring patients to its Wilmington hospital, according to a report in The News Journal.

According to the charges, Christiana Care overpaid physicians at Neurology Associates for in-hospital readings of EEGs allegedly as a "reward" for referring patients to the hospital. The court documents note the payments were part of a contract dating to 1989, prior to the enactment of the current Stark Act and Delaware Anti-kickback Statute.

Officials from Christiana Care say they put the contract out for rebid in 2003, when it terminated Neurology Associates' contract under the Stark Act, but the practice won the contract back in 2003, according to the report.

Christiana Care also denies any wrongdoing in the case and settled to avoid lengthy legal action.

The whistleblowers in the lawsuit were a group of physicians from a competing neurology group and will receive $190,000 in the settlement, according to the report.

Read the Journal's report on Christiana Care's settlement.