Cincinnati healthcare leaders sued

Two Cincinnati healthcare giants established "a classic kickback arrangement" when they traded patient referrals for free time in a state-of-the-art diagnostic center, says the lawyer for cardiologist Harry Fry, the whistleblower at the center of the case. Fry blew the whistle on a patient-referral arrangement between Christ Hospital and its then-parent network, the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, and the Ohio Heart and Vascular Center. The government has outlined its case against the three organizations in a civil fraud lawsuit that seeks $140 million and possibly treble damages as permitted under federal statute.