DaVita Affiliate Settles Medicare Fraud Allegations for $270M (2)

DaVita Medical Holdings has agreed to pay $270 million to settle Justice Department allegations stemming from allegedly inflated Medicare payments.

DaVita voluntarily disclosed to the government that HealthCare Partners, an independent physician association it acquired in 2012, submitted the wrong diagnosis codes to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to get inflated payments. It also settled whistleblower allegations under the False Claims Act that Healthcare Partners looked for diagnoses that weren’t recorded to submit to Medicare managed-care organizations for increased Medicare payments.

DaVita told Bloomberg Law it’s in the process of divesting of HealthCare Partners.

The settlement comes at ...