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DaVita Healthcare Agrees To Settlement In Compensation Scheme

DENVER (CBS4)- One of the leading providers of dialysis services in the U.S., based in Denver, has agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in a settlement in a compensation scheme.

DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. agreed to pay $350 million to resolve claims it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to induce the referral of patients to its dialysis clinics.

DaVita is headquartered in Denver and has dialysis clinics in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

The settlement resolves allegations that between March 1, 2005 and February 1, 2014 DaVita identified physicians or physician groups that had significant patient populations suffering renal disease and offered them lucrative opportunities to partner with DaVita by acquiring and/or selling an interest in dialysis clinics to which their patients would be referred for dialysis treatment.

"Health care providers should generate business by offering their patients superior quality services or more convenient options, not by entering into contractual agreements designed to induce physicians to provide referrals," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Division Jonathan F. Olin. "The Justice Department is committed to protecting the integrity of our healthcare system and ensuring that financial arrangements in the healthcare marketplace comply with the law."

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