2493

HCA Inc., one of the nation's largest for-profit hospital chains, agreed to pay the United States and the state of Tennessee 16.5 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act and the Stark Statute. As alleged in the settlement agreement, during 2007 HCA, through its subsidiaries Parkridge Medical Center, located in Chattanooga, Tenn., and HCA Physician Services, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., entered into a series of financial transactions with a physician group, Diagnostic Associates of Chattanooga, through which it provided financial benefits intended to induce the physician members of Diagnostic to refer patients to HCA facilities.