US Files Suit Against WV Hospital, Its Management Company, and Its CEO Based on Kickbacks to Doctors

[nitpicker]

1. Background- from the whistleblower's lawyers

https://www.phillipsandcohen.com/government-joins-whistleblower-lawsuit-against-west-virginia-hospital-its-ceo-and-pittsburgh-company/

PITTSBURGH, PA, Dec. 21, 2018 – The US Department of Justice has joined a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Phillips & Cohen LLP that alleges a West Virginia hospital – under the direction of its chief executive officer and management firm – improperly paid millions in excessive compensation to doctors based on the volume or value of patient referrals to the hospital and the money generated for the hospital by the patients’ treatment.

The qui tam lawsuit against Wheeling Hospital, CEO Ronald Violi and his management firm, R&V Associates of Pittsburgh, was unsealed and made public today after the government filed notice with the federal district court in Pittsburgh that it would intervene in the case.

Wheeling Hospital engaged in the scheme, the “qui tam” (whistleblower) lawsuit says, as part of a plan to gain “monopolistic power and dominating market share” in the Ohio Valley region. For some physicians, compensation totaled over $1 million a year.
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