Sumter hospital agrees to $72M settlement with feds

SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — A Sumter hospital has agreed to pay the federal government $72 million and be sold to settle charges it steered Medicare referrals to certain doctors.

The U.S. Justice Department said Friday’s settlement resolves a 2013 ruling where a jury ordered Tuomey Healthcare System to pay a $240 million judgment for 21,000 false Medicare claims from 2005 to 2009.

Federal officials say Tuomey was worried it might lose outpatient business to a new surgical clinic and entered contracts with 19 specialists requiring the doctors to send their cases to Tuomey in exchange for extra Medicare money.

The orthopedist who reported the arrangement after refusing to sign a contract will get $18 million under federal whistleblower laws.

Tuomey will also be sold to Palmetto Health in Columbia.