Columbia/HCA To Pay $ 745 Million in Fraud

Published in: San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, May 19, 2000, page B1:
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"Columbia/HCA To Pay $ 745 Million in Fraud Settlement".
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Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. said it will pay about $ 745 million in a partial settlement of a 3-year old Medicare fraud investigation.

The Nashville, Tenn. company will take a second-quarter charge of $ 498 million for costs of the settlement , an amount equal to three-quarters of its net income last year. Columbia/HCA has been negotiating for more than a year to extricate itself from the investigation after selling its home health care unit, shedding a third of its hospitals and replacing top managers.

The government accused Columbia/HCA, the largest U.S. hospital chain, of a nationwide effort to defraud Medicare and other health insurance programs.