Florida hospital settles part of whistleblower suit -lawyer

By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – A Florida hospital on Monday settled for $80 million to $90 million part of a federal whistleblower lawsuit that accused it of Medicare fraud and kickbacks to its cancer doctors and neurosurgeons, according to a lawyer for the whistleblower. Halifax Health, a 678-bed hospital in Daytona Beach serving Florida’s East Coast, reached the tentative settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice on the morning that jury selection was set to begin in the U.S. District Court in Orlando, said Atlanta lawyer Marlan Wilbanks, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of former hospital employee Elin Baklid-Kunz.