Community Health Network to pay $345M in historic Stark Law case

Indiana-based Community Health Network agreed to pay $345 million as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) resolving allegations it overcompensated physicians it employed at a rate that violated the Stark Law.

Of the settlement total, $167 million is restitution, according to the settlement agreement published by the DOJ on Tuesday. The agency intervened in the case in 2020 on the back of allegations raised in 2014 by Community’s former Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer Thomas Fischer under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Fischer’s whistleblower award has yet to be determined.

The case marks the largest False Claims Act settlement based on Stark Law violations in the history of the DOJ.