Commure ends paid-referral program for its clinic AI software, days before STAT investigation

Commure, a roughly $7 billion health-AI vendor that sells software to medical clinics, has formally ended a program that paid outside parties, including its own customers, to refer new buyers its way. The Aug. 6 termination notice from chief legal officer Dan Brian ended payment agreements 30 days from receipt and said amounts owed as of the termination date would be "paid in full," per company emails obtained by STAT.

The program ended after STAT had already begun asking about it. STAT first emailed Brian about the referral arrangements on June 5. The termination notice landed six days before STAT's Aug. 12 investigation into the same practice, which found Commure had offered to pay thousands of dollars to customers and other parties to refer its AI products to new prospects.

Per-head payouts to parties who can steer a clinic's software-purchase decision are a referral category the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General has been actively flagging. OIG's browse page lists AO 26-15 in the current pipeline, and the agency has issued a string of 2025–2026 advisory opinions on referral platforms and physician-royalty arrangements that flagged anti-kickback risk.

What's still unknown: whether AO 26-15 specifically addresses arrangements like Commure's, and whether OIG will treat the terminated program as a closed matter or a live one.