Coventry Health Care To Pay $3 Million To Avoid Prosecution In Medicare Case

The Bethesda, Md., health insurer that Aetna is planning to acquire for $5.6 billion agreed to pay millions of dollars to avoid criminal prosecution.

The Baltimore Sun’s Kevin Rector reports:

The payment by Coventry Health Care Inc. is related to the company gaining advantage over competitors by allowing its employees to inappropriately access a federal Medicare database, according to the Maryland U.S. attorney’s office.

Aetna said in August it will pay about $5.6 billion to acquire Coventry and the Hartford-based company will take on Coventry’s debt, driving up the transaction price to $7.3 billion.

According to an agreement with prosecutors, top officials at Coventry Health Care Inc., which is incorporated in Delaware but headquartered in Bethesda and provides group and individual health insurance to some five million members nationally, knew of the inappropriate use of the database and did nothing to stop it until a federal agency raised concerns.

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