TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Pam Bondi today announced a multimillion dollar settlement with former hospital chain Health Management Associates, LLC. The settlement resolves allegations that during the period of 2003 through 2011, two HMA hospitals, Charlotte Regional Medical Center and Peace River Medical Center, billed the Florida Medicaid program for services referred by physicians to whom HMA provided remuneration in return for patient referrals.
According to an investigation by Attorney General Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Charlotte Regional provided a local physician group with free office space and staff, as well as direct payments, that purportedly covered overhead and administrative costs incurred by the group for its management of a Charlotte Regional physician in an effort to induce patient referrals. HMA also provided another local physician with free rent and upgrades to his office space.
The investigation resulted from a qui tam action filed in 2014 in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida under the federal False Claims Act. HMA agreed to pay $5.54 million in restitution and other recoveries to the State of Florida to resolve these civil allegations.
