Kaiser Permanente affiliates will pay $556 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged the health care giant committed Medicare fraud and pressured doctors to list incorrect diagnoses on medical records to receive higher reimbursements. The deal announced Wednesday came more than four years after the U.S. Department of Justice filed the legal claim in San Francisco that consolidated allegations made in six whistleblower complaints. The lawsuit said Kaiser entities gamed the Medicare Advantage Plan system, also known as the Medicare Part C program. It gives beneficiaries the option of enrolling in managed care insurance plans.
