Montana Hospital Pays $10M to Settle Suit Over Radiology Services

A Bozeman hospital has paid out $10 million to settle a federal lawsuit that accused its radiology department of fraud.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported that recently unsealed court documents show Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital paid about $7.2 million to the U.S. government and nearly $239,000 to Montana.

The hospital also paid $2.5 million to the law firm that represented Bozeman radiologists Frank Rembert and Michael Paradise, who filed the lawsuit nearly three years ago.

The suit claimed the hospital made millions of dollars in fraudulent claims to government health care programs as part of an illegal kickback scheme to keep a monopoly on radiology services in Gallatin County.

A hospital spokeswoman says the defendants listed in the case deny all allegations and any wrongdoing.