An Indianapolis-based health network has agreed to pay the government $345 million to resolve charges it defrauded Medicare by overpaying doctors who referred patients to its facilities. Federal prosecutors say the agreement settles allegations that senior management at Community Health Network recruited hundreds of doctors beginning in 2008 and paid them salaries that were significantly higher than what they received in their own private practices. They say Community Health submitted an unspecified number of claims to Medicare for services that resulted from the unlawful referrals. Community Health calls the allegations against it “technical violations.”
