DOJ: HCA settles feds' complaint for $16.5M

The Justice Department and HCA have reached a $16.5 million settlement over violations of federal laws that restrict financial relationships between hospitals and physicians. The case arose after two subsidiaries of the Nashville-based hospital chain gave financial benefits to Diagnostic Associates of Chattanooga, a physicians group, in an effort to get more patient referrals to HCA facilities, the Justice Department said in a news release Wednesday. The financial transactions in 2007 involved HCA Physician Services in Nashville and Parkridge Medical Center in Chattanooga.