Government Intervenes in Lawsuits Against Health Management
Associates Inc. Hospital Chain Alleging Unnecessary
Inpatient Admissions and Payment of Kickbacks

The government has intervened in eight False Claims Act lawsuits against Health Management Associates Inc. (HMA) alleging that HMA billed federal health care programs for medically unnecessary inpatient admissions from the emergency departments at HMA hospitals and paid remuneration to physicians in exchange for patient referrals, the Justice Department announced today.  The government also has joined in the allegations in one of these lawsuits that Gary Newsome, HMA’s former CEO, directed HMA’s corporate practice of pressuring emergency department physicians and hospital administrators to raise inpatient admission rates, regardless of medical necessity.  HMA operates 71 hospitals in 15 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and West Virginia. 

“The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that health care providers who attempt to misuse federal health care programs for their own profit are held accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “Schemes such as this one can contribute significantly to the rising cost of delivering health care and create needless patient risk.”

The lawsuits allege that HMA’s corporate officers, at the direction of Newsome, exerted significant pressure on doctors in the emergency department to admit patients who could have been placed in observation, treated as outpatients or discharged, and that this resulted in the submission of inflated or false claims to federal health care programs.  One lawsuit also alleges that patients were improperly admitted for scheduled surgical procedures that should have been done on an outpatient basis.  The complaints further allege that HMA paid kickbacks, either in the form of bonuses or awarded contracts, to physician groups staffing HMA emergency rooms to induce the physicians to admit patients unnecessarily.

In addition, the lawsuits allege that HMA paid kickbacks to other physician groups to induce referrals.  For example, HMA allegedly provided improper remuneration, both through the provision of free office space and staffing and through direct payments, to Primary Care Associates, a physician practice group in Port Charlotte, Fla., in exchange for referrals to two HMA hospitals in Florida.  HMA also allegedly paid kickbacks to physicians in Lancaster, Pa., by paying inflated prices for physician-owned assets, providing sham medical directorship contracts and selling assets to physicians for below fair market value.

The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid and other federally funded programs.  The Stark Statute prohibits a hospital from submitting claims for patient referrals made by a physician with whom the hospital has an improper financial arrangement.  Both the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Statute are intended to ensure that a physician’s medical judgment is not compromised by improper financial incentives and is instead based on the best interests of the patient. 

“This intervention decision marks the culmination of a lengthy and comprehensive investigation into a variety of serious fraud allegations against one of our district’s largest health care providers,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida A. Lee Bentley III.  “We hope that this case will serve as a reminder to our provider community that this office is fully engaged in the struggle against misconduct of this kind.”

 
“Improper hospital admissions cost the government millions of dollars in unnecessary fees and subject patients to excessive treatment and needless risk, driving up the cost of health care,” said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Anne M. Tompkins.  “The government will pursue aggressively providers that boost their profits at the expense of Medicare and other government programs.”

“Unlawful financial relationships between hospitals and physicians solely to increase referrals are, unfortunately, a common practice that corrupts the health care system,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Wifredo A. Ferrer.  “The system also suffers a direct financial hit when hospitals fraudulently increase admissions where they are not indicated, solely to benefit hospitals’ bottom line.  We will not relent in our efforts to combat these kinds of fraudulent schemes and recover funds for the Medicare program.”

“HMA’s submission of claims to Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE for unnecessary inpatient stays is a serious matter that threatens the integrity of our entire health care system, and the end result is that those who need health care cannot afford it,” said U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia Michael J. Moore.  “The Middle District of Georgia is committed to fighting health care fraud.”

“Investigations such as these are a very high priority for the FBI because of the potential impact to the nation’s health care system and to the public,” said FBI Assistant Director Ron Hosko.  “Because of the priority nature of these cases as well as their complexity, we have created a centralized team to provide nationwide support to our field offices called the Major Provider Response Team.  The FBI is committed to working with our partners in these types of investigations and appreciates the public’s involvement in the process.”

The lawsuits were filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private parties to sue on behalf of the government when they believe that defendants submitted false claims for government funds and to receive a share of any recovery.  The False Claims Act also permits the government to intervene in such lawsuits, as it has done in these cases.  The eight lawsuits are pending in the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, Middle District of Georgia, Northern District of Illinois, Western District of North Carolina, Eastern District of Pennsylvania and District of South Carolina .

The government’s intervention in these matters illustrates its emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $17 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $12.2 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

These matters were investigated by the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division; the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, Middle District of Georgia, Northern District of Illinois, Western District of North Carolina, Middle and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania and District of South Carolina; the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The cases are captioned United States ex rel. Brummer v. Health Mgmt. Assocs. Inc. , et al.,3-09-cv-135 (CDL)(M.D. Ga.); United States ex rel. Williams v. Health Mgmt. Assocs. Inc. et al., 3:12-cv-151 (M.D. Ga.) United States ex rel. Plantz v. Health Mgmt. Assocs. Inc., et al., 13C-1212 (N.D. Ill.) United States ex rel. Miller v. Health Mgmt. Assocs. Inc., et al., 10-3007 (E.D. Pa.) United States ex rel. Mason v. Health Mgmt. Assocs. Inc., et al., 3:10-CV-472-GCM (W.D.N.C.) United States ex rel. Nurkin v. Health Mgmt. Assocs. Inc., et al., 2:11-cv-14-FtM-29DNF (M.D. Fla.) United States ex rel. Jacqueline Meyer & Cowling v. Health Mgmt. Assocs. Inc., et al.; 0:11-cv-01713-JFA (D.S.C.) and United States ex rel. Paul Meyer v. Health Mgmt. Assocs. Inc., et al.,11-62445 cv-Williams (S.D. Fla.).

The claims asserted against HMA and Newsome are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.