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D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
Mark E. Manigan, JD
LEGAL UPDATE
Price Your Physician Buy-Ins With Care
3 lessons learned from a $5M whistleblower settlement.
M
eridian Surgical Partners, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based ASC
development and management firm, agreed in September to
pay $5.12 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit in which
the former business office manager of a Florida facility accused the
company of engaging in Medicare fraud through kickbacks for physi-
cian referrals. The settlement almost certainly signaled that the days
of quick-and-dirty physician buy-ins are over.
According to the suit, Meridian had purchased a 60% share of the
Treasure Coast Surgery Center in Stuart, Fla., for $96,000 a share.
Shortly afterwards, it sold ownership interests to physician-utilizers
for $25,000 a share. The whistleblower, Thomas Reed Simmons,