◆ Mercy Health, a Cincinnati-based health system, has agreed to settle false claims allegations over physician compensation, the Department of Justice said May 10. The settlement stems from Mercy Health’s self-disclosure to the government. The health system, which has hospitals and other facilities in Ohio and Kentucky, paid six employed physicians—an oncologist and five internal medicine physicians—above fair-market value compensation for their services, DOJ alleged. In 2014 and 2015 letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, Mercy Health disclosed that it “may have directly or indirectly provided excessive compensation to six physicians during the period January 1, 2012 and March 13, 2015, which may have violated” the Stark Law, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act, according to the settlement. There was no admission of liability in the settlement. “During an internal audit, Mercy Health learned that it made errors in the administration of a small number of physician arrangements,” Mercy Health Spokeswoman Nanette Bentley said. “Mercy Health promptly disclosed the administrative errors to the federal government, with which it cooperated fully, and is pleased to have resolved the matter.” Visit https://tinyurl.com/y8fj5tup.