In response to a billion-dollar whistleblower suit that alleges Halifax Health violated federal laws prohibiting kickbacks to doctors, hospital officials say they were merely serving the public by making sure they paid enough to keep good doctors. The bonuses they paid to certain physicians were needed to ensure they would stay at the safety-net hospital, the Daytona Beach News-Journalreports.
The health system denies the bonuses were intended as incentive payments to increase patient volume, one of the charges in the Medicare fraud case.
