Dive Brief:
- Sumter, S.C.-based Tuomey Healthcare System has been ordered by a federal judge to pay out $70 million of the $237 million judgment that has been entered against it while the appeals phase of its case is completed.
- In May 2013, Tuomey was found guilty of violating the Stark Law and the False Claims Act. The jury found that Tuomey had filed $39 million in false claims to Medicare, and had also compensated physicians for not referring patients to competing hospitals or physicians.
- As it waits for the outcome of its appeal, the judge demanded that Tuomey put $40 million in an escrow account, and to pay $30 million in bond.
Dive Insight:
Tuomey is a health care system centered on a 266-bed medical center serving three local counties. Posting the bond required by the judge and putting $40 million in escrow must be quite painful, as it's not exactly what you'd call a giant. Things will go much worse for the system if it loses its appeal of the verdict from last year, in which it was slapped with a $237 million judgment.