Jesse Witten Quoted Regarding Tuomey Hospital Stark Law Settlement

Washington, D.C. partner Jesse Witten was quoted in the Report on Medicare Compliance regarding a settlement entered into between Tuomey Hospital and the Government in a high-profile False Claims Act premised on alleged violations of the Stark law.

In 2013, following a jury trial, the Government won a $237 million judgment against Tuomey Hospital, which was affirmed by the Fourth Circuit.  The Department of Justice recently announced that it had entered into a settlement with Tuomey for $72.4 million.

Jesse commented on the settlement: “If you were to make a movie of Tuomey, it would have ended with the Fourth Circuit ruling affirming the jury verdict,” he said. “The screen goes dark, and it shows you in white letters the postscript of what happens to the characters afterward.”

Jesse described the settlement as an “ability-to-pay” settlement, where the government collects a fraction of the defendant’s liability because it can’t pay more.