NEW YORK — New York-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital (HVH) will pay more than $616,000 to resolve allegations that it participated in an illegal kickback scheme that steered cancer patients to the hospital in violation of state and federal law, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced.
A joint investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York found that, from 2011 through 2019, HVH and its predecessor, Hudson Valley Hospital Center, paid millions of dollars to a Westchester County oncology practice. In return, physicians at the practice allegedly referred approximately 114 cancer patients to the hospital for oncology services, resulting in false claims submitted to New York’s Medicaid program.
Under the settlement, HVH will pay $616,676.14 to resolve its civil liability, with more than $367,000 going to New York’s Medicaid program and the remainder to the federal government. The case originated with a whistleblower complaint filed by a former employee, who will receive a share of the recovery under federal and state False Claims Act provisions.
“New Yorkers should be able to trust that their doctors are making decisions based on their best interests, not financial incentives,” Attorney General James said. “HVH’s illegal kickback scheme undermined cancer patients’ critical relationships with their health care providers. I will continue to go after illegal financial schemes that corrupt our health care system and prevent patients from getting the care they deserve.”
Investigators found that, over an eight-year period, Hudson Valley Hospital Center and later HVH paid the oncology practice more than $4 million through three agreements tied to proposed cancer treatment programs, including a melanoma center, a breast cancer center, and an intraoperative radiation therapy service line. According to the findings, payments were made for work that was not performed, not performed as required, or not supported by required time records — and were intended to induce referrals in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law.
As a result of the scheme, the hospital submitted false claims to Medicaid, violating the New York State False Claims Act. HVH admitted to key facts outlined in the settlement stipulation, including that it continued to make payments even after agreements expired and despite lacking documentation of the services required under the contracts.
