Adventist agrees to pay $14 million in False Claims case

Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health agreed to pay $14.1 million to resolve allegations that it improperly compensated physicians who referred patients to the system's White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles.

White Memorial also agreed to enter a five-year corporate integrity agreement with HHS' inspector general's office, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release.

The hospital, the government alleged, transferred medical supplies and other goods to physicians for less than fair-market value and paid physicians inflated rates for teaching services in its family-practice residency program.

“We are pleased the matter is concluded, and we will diligently fulfill the terms of the corporate integrity agreement,” Adventist Health said in a written statement. The statement noted that the system cooperated with the investigation and that the allegations involve financial relationships “with several doctors that were entered into more than a decade ago.”

The settlement stems from a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in 2008 by two doctors, according to a release issued by the law firms that represented them, Phillips & Cohen and Hirst Law Group.