Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare and Methodist Healthcare-Memphis Hospitals have paid $7.25 million to settle false claims allegations stemming from sweetheart deals with West Clinic PLLC, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee said Jan. 4. According to the allegations in the False Claims Act (FCA) complaint, Methodist bought the assets of West Clinic, leased its nonphysician employees and compensated physicians for their professional and management services without employing them, partly to induce their referrals. Methodist denied the allegations and didn’t admit liability in the settlement. “OIG has over time narrowed the scope of the cases for which they’re seeking a CIA,” Gregory Demske, Complex Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Healthcare partner and former chief counsel to the HHS Inspector General, tells RMC. Two decades ago, OIG pursued CIAs in every FCA settlement, but ultimately OIG decided this “was not the best use of its resources or the resources of entities it was settling with,” said Demske.