Modern Healthcare (subscription required) reported on December 21, 2004 that HealthSouth will pay $325 million to settle several whistleblower suits brought under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.
The tentative settlement is expected to be finalized by the end of the year and would resolve claims that HealthSouth billed for unnecessary services, for services provided by uncredentialed providers and for individual physical therapy when group therapy was provided. HealthSouth also allegedly failed to report a gain from the sale of Caremark stock and falsified Medicare cost reports.
The Securities & Exchange Commission is investigating the company for securities fraud and there are also criminal charges pending against HealthSouth personnel.