Pharmaceutical distributor Cardinal Health has agreed to pay $13.1 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying upfront discounts to its physician practice customers for purchasing specialty drugs.

“Cardinal Health recruited new customers by offering and paying cash bonuses in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act,” said U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins in a Justice Department statement, adding that kickback schemes like this “have the potential to pervert clinical decisionmaking.”

The statute prohibits pharmaceutical distributors from offering or paying any compensation to induce physicians to purchase drugs for use on Medicare patients.