Bozeman hospital seeks dismissal of radiologists’ lawsuit

BOZEMAN — Attorneys for Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital and its radiology clinic are asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that alleges the hospital was receiving illegal kickbacks for referring patients to the clinic.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports the False Claims Act lawsuit, filed by radiologists Frank Rembert and Michael Paradise in December 2015, alleged the joint venture hampered competition and led to higher bills being submitted to government health care programs.

Hospital attorneys counter that Rembert and Paradise both held ownership shares in the radiology clinic, that Rembert signed the operating agreement and that both have testified that they did not believe the joint ownership arrangement was improper.

The response also says the stifling competition claim is false because the clinic had agreed not to compete with the hospital two years before the joint venture was formed.