We don't know what Northwestern Memorial Hospital did to upset HHS, but apparently something doesn't look kosher. The facility is being investigated currently over its relationship with the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation, a 500-physicians faculty practice based at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
So far, it's not clear what's going on. But as FierceHealthcare readers know, there's seemingly a thousand ways in which a hospital's relationship with doctors can run afoul of self-referral bans, False Claims accusations and other entanglements.
Whatever HHS thinks it has found, it is being tight-lipped about it. Meanwhile, Northwestern is offering up the information requested through a subpoena. The 787-bed facility also says that it plans to be fully compliant, and believes that all its arrangements are perfectly legal.
To learn more about the investigation:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece [1] (reg. req.)
Related Articles:
New regs keep execs on their toes [2]
Can syndication boost hospital-MD deals? [3]
HFMA ANI 2008: Estimating Fair Market Value for physician pay [4]
Links:
[1] http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20081215/REG/312159956/-1/TODAYSNEWS
[2] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/new-regs-keep-execs-on-their-toes/2007-05-25
[3] http://www.fiercehealthfinance.com/story/can-syndication-boost-hospital-md-deals/2008-04-16
[4] http://www.fiercehealthfinance.com/story/hfma-ani-2008-estimating-fair-market-value-physician-pay/2008-07-02