Five states get their portion of DaVita kickback settlement

Five states will get $22 million as part of a settlement made in October 2014 with DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced Jan. 5. The settlement resolved allegations that the dialysis provider violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to receive referrals of patients to its dialysis clinics. The $22 million will be split among California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, and Ohio, and is part of the $350 million and a civil forfeiture fine of $39 million DaVita agreed upon in October 2014. Colorado will receive more than $3 million.

"We have worked incredibly hard to get things right and it is our belief there was no intentional wrongdoing," DaVita said in a statement in October. "We believe this settlement is the right thing for our teammates, partners and shareholders."

“This represents a significant recovery for Colorado’s Medicaid program,” said Attorney General Suthers. “Colorado will not tolerate any arrangement that appears to compromise the objectivity of physicians and the efficiency of the Medicaid program.” -by Rebecca Zumoff