A recent whistleblower case out of the federal 3rd Circuit in Pennsylvania highlights some of the dangers in not properly documenting financial relationships between physicians and hospitals. Specifically, in US ex. rel. Kosenske v. Carlisle HMA, Inc., a Qui Tam lawsuit brought by the former member of an anesthesia group, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a US District Court’s summary judgment in favor of the defendant hospital and anesthesia group.

The anesthesia group in question had a written exclusive contract with the hospital for anesthesia services but, subsequent to entering into the exclusive agreement, began providing pain management services at the hospital’s freestanding pain center. The hospital did not charge the anesthesia group rent for use of the space in the pain center and the qui tam relator claimed that the arrangements failed to meet the Stark exception for personal service arrangements (and therefore that claims for services referred by the anesthesia group’s physicians to the hospital were in violation of the federal False Claim Act).

Continue Reading Pennsylvania Qui Tam Case Highlights Dangers in Physician/Hospital Arrangements