SPRINGFIELD -- A federal judge delayed a civil lawsuit against CoxHealth so it won’t interfere with a criminal investigation of the health system’s Medicare billing practices. Two former employees sued CoxHealth because they believe they were wrongfully fired after they told the government about the billing practices.

In a ruling issued on Monday, U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner wrote, "Upon balancing the competing interests of the public in effective law enforcement and the individual Plaintiffs in recovering civil damages, the court hereby grants the government's Motion to Intervene and Stay Discovery.”

That means the two sides in the civil case, for at least the next six months, won't be able to depose each other and possible witnesses, or subpoena documents. Government investigators fear discovery in the civil case might hurt their chances of getting to the truth in their probe of CoxHealth’s Medicare billing practices.

Roger Cochran and Dennis Morris, the men who sued CoxHealth, opposed the delay in discovery because they think evidence supporting their arguments might disappear, or witnesses will forget things or move away. CoxHealth, which owns Cox South and Cox North hospitals and other health care facilities in the Ozarks, supported the delay.

"We are very pleased that the court's ruling recognizes the potential that would exist for these plaintiffs to abuse the discovery process if a stay had not been granted,” said the company, in a written statement. “Instead, this ruling allows the government to proceed with its separate investigation without improper interference from the plaintiffs. CoxHealth looks forward to a just resolution of our issues with the government, and at the appropriate time, the opportunity to challenge the plaintiffs' claims in their separate employment lawsuit."

Cochran was the clinical director and Morris was the administrative director of Ozarks Dialysis Services, a subsidiary of CoxHealth. They say they complained within the company and to an investigator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about a billing method that increased CoxHealth’s per-patient Medicare reimbursements for dialysis. Part of the method, they say, was to improperly pay doctors to be medical directors of Ozarks Dialysis Services, in return for the doctors referring patients to ODS. They say the doctors performed no medical services in exchange for the payments.

CoxHealth says the men were not fired because they talked to federal investigators. Instead, according to court documents, the company says the men “were terrible leaders, they ruled by fear and intimidation, they cultivated low employee morale and created and maintained a hostile work environment where employees constantly feared for their jobs.”

The government investigation of CoxHealth started in late 2004, according to court documents. Investigators formally notified the company about it in January 2005. Investigators say Cochran and Morris could be subjects and/or targets of the investigation, as well as top administrators of CoxHealth.

After Cochran and Morris filed the lawsuit in June, they asked CoxHealth to give them copies of all documents the company had received “from any federal agency regarding the Government’s investigation.” They also wanted to see documents about the medical director fees at ODS.

Criminal investigators told the judge that allowing Cochran and Morris to see all those documents might reveal information that the men wouldn’t be able to see if they were charged criminally. The investigators also said, if the two sides depose each other, they both might gain information from the interviews that they might not normally get if they were charged criminally, which could help their criminal defenses.

Cochran and Morris argue that they only want to see documents already given to government investigators. They also said they were told they could “freely discuss” what they’ve already told the government about CoxHealth’s Medicare billings and the medical directorships.

Judge Fenner ruled “the public’s interest in resolving these questions of criminal culpability outweighs the Plaintiff’s interest in recovering civil damages. Accordingly, a stay should be granted to preserve the public’s interest in preventing Medicare fraud.” He did order that government investigators, Cochran and Morris, and CoxHealth give him status reports on the cases every 60 days.