Phillips & Cohen partner Edward Arens describes important aspects of the Prime Healthcare settlement in an Report on Medicare Compliance article.
Prime, Reddy and California interventional cardiologist Siva Arunasalam agreed to pay $37.5 million in a settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the California Department of Justice, DOJ said July 19.
The case was set in motion by three whistleblowers. One lawsuit was filed by Martin Mansukhani, former Prime regional chief financial officer, and the other by Marsha Arnold and Joseph Hill, former employees in the billing office of a Prime hospital in Redding, California. DOJ declined to intervene in the whistleblower lawsuits but is a party to the settlement, said attorney Edward Arens, with Phillips & Cohen, which represented Mansukhani.
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Arens said it “was pretty remarkable” that a deal that allegedly violated the Stark Law and AKS was “personally negotiated by the CEO of Prime.” He said it left the chief financial officer with few options in terms of trying to report the alleged violations internally.
Read the entire article, “Prime Healthcare, CEO, Cardiologist Settle FCA Allegations Over Payments for Referrals,” in HCCA’s Report on Medicare Compliance on HCCA’s website.