Hospital pays $9.2 Million to settle whistleblower case over incentive pay to physicians

Freeman Health System, a healthcare provider and hospital system in Joplin Missouri will pay $9,316,139 to end allegations that it violated The Stark Law and the False Claims Act by knowingly providing incentive pay to doctors based on the volume of their referrals or the revenue realized by those referrals. In a federal lawsuit, the United States said that Freeman provided incentive pay to 70 physicians employed at clinics operated by the health system based on the revenue generated by their referrals for certain diagnostic tests and other services performed at the clinical.