BayCare to pay $20M to settle fraud allegations
April 7, 2022 - BayCare Health System Inc., which has multiple hospitals in Tampa Bay, will pay the federal government $20 million to settle allegations that the organization inappropriately donated to the Juvenile Welfare Board of Pinellas County to fund Florida's share of Medicaid payments to get federal matching funds in violation of the False Claims Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday. Prosecutors say BayCare knowingly caused false claims for matching funds to be submitted to the federal government between 2013 and 2014. "The funds transferred by [the Juvenile Welfare Board] to the state were 'matched' by the federal government before being returned to the BayCare hospitals as Medicaid payments, and BayCare was thus able to recoup its original donations to JWB and also receive federal matching funds, in violation of the federal prohibition on non-bona fide donations," the Department of Justice wrote in a news release.