DaVita HealthCare Partners has announced in an earnings call with shareholders that it will settle federal anti-kickback investigations into some of the company’s relationships with nephrologists, according to a Denver Post report.
Under the terms of the settlement, Denver-based DaVita said in a statement that it will pay approximately $389 million and has agreed to " to unwind a limited subset of joint ventures that were created through partial divestiture to nephrologists, and agreed not to enter into this type of partial divestiture joint venture with nephrologists in the future."
The final settlement remains subject to negotiation of specific terms. DaVita anticipates it will be finalized in the coming months.
The settlement provides further evidence that the dialysis industry remains under constant scrutiny given the significant Medicare expenses tied to ESRD treatment.