Johns Hopkins Health System and Sibley Memorial Hospital have settled improper cost allegations for $5 million.
Sibley Memorial, in Washington, D.C., allegedly violated the Stark Law from 2008 to 2011 by billing Medicare for providers referred by 10 cardiologists with whom the hospital had a monetary relationship, the Justice Department stated Monday.
“Johns Hopkins Medicine discovered and flagged a technical non-compliance with the Stark Act in 2011 as part of the onboarding evaluation for Sibley Memorial Hospital when they were becoming part of the Johns Hopkins Health System,” a well being system spokesperson wrote in an electronic mail. “We immediately self-reported and have been working with the Department of Justice to bring closure to the matter in the 12 years since.”
Both the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute assist guarantee physicians’ medical judgments are based mostly on affected person pursuits moderately than monetary incentives. The Stark Law, formally referred to as the Physician Self-Referral Law, prohibits hospitals from billing Medicare for providers referred by physicians with whom they’ve a monetary connections, until an exception applies. The Anti-Kickback Statute bans providing or accepting monetary funds for referrals of providers coated by Medicare or Medicaid.
Baltimore, Maryland-based Johns Hopkins Medicine contains Johns Hopkins Health System and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. It operates six tutorial and group hospitals in Maryland, the Washington, D.C. space and Florida. The system acquired Sibley Memorial Hospital in a non-cash affiliation deal in 2010.