The nation's largest kidney dialysis company is ready to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars to settle an Atlanta whistleblower case.

DaVita HealthCare Partners says it will pay up to $495 million to settle a 2011 civil suit filed in Atlanta by Dr. Alon  Vainer and nurse Daniel Barbir.  Their lawsuit accused the Denver-based company of defrauding the federal medicare program of millions of dollars.

DaVita says it is not admitting any wrongdoing by settling the lawsuit.  The company has now settled three whistleblower lawsuits since 2012, totaling nearly $1 billion.

Vainer and Barbir, who both worked for DaVita, say they noticed the company was throwing away good medicine, and then it billed Medicare and Medicaid.

Atlanta attorney Lin Wood, who represents the plaintiffs, says this case may be the largest in the history of the nation's federal False Claims Act.

A statement from DaVita Kidney Care CEO Javier Rodriguez said "Our 67,000 teammates across 11 countries look forward to putting this behind us. We can now renew our focus on collaborating with regulators to avoid situations like this going forward."