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Cookeville Regional Medical Center on Friday agreed to pay $4.1 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act.
The alleged conduct involved payments to physicians in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark law. The settlement resolves federal and state allegations that CRMC submitted false claims for payments to Medicare and TennCare between 2012 and 2017.
Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. government will receive $3.6 million and the state $452,845.
Hospital officials previously stated that the settlement will in no way affect the operations, patient care, or patient costs at Cookeville Regional.
The allegations resolved by today’s settlement were originally raised in a lawsuit filed against CRMC by a former employee who brought claims under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the FCA, which allow private citizens with knowledge of false claims to bring civil suits on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery. The whistleblower will receive $779,000 as his share of the settlement.
