Fifteen additional Texas doctors have agreed to pay a total of $2,831,280 to resolve False Claims Act allegations involving illegal kickbacks in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law, and to cooperate with the Department’s investigations of and litigation against other parties. The settlements resolve allegations that fifteen Texas doctors violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law by receiving thousands of dollars in remuneration from nine management service organizations (MSOs) in exchange for ordering laboratory tests from Rockdale Hospital d/b/a Little River Healthcare (Little River), True Health Diagnostics LLC (True Health), and/or Boston Heart Diagnostics Corporation (Boston Heart). Little River allegedly funded the remuneration to certain doctors, in the form of volume-based commissions paid to independent contractor recruiters, who used MSOs to pay numerous doctors for their referrals. The MSO payments to the doctors were allegedly disguised as investment returns but in fact were based on, and offered in exchange for, the doctors’ referrals. As part of their settlements, the fifteen physicians have agreed to cooperate with the Department of Justice’s investigations of and litigation against other parties involved in the alleged violations of law.
