|
Columbia under scrutiny
|
 |
March 28, 1997: 7:16 a.m. ET
Largest health care firm suspected of exaggerating seriousness of illnesses
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., the nation's largest health care company, is under investigation by law enforcement officials and government agencies for allegedly misleading Medicare with its billing practices.
Columbia is suspected of engaging in "upcoding," in which hospitals exaggerate the seriousness of the illnesses they treat in order to receive larger Medicare payments, the New York Times reported Friday.
The government's suspicions were aroused due to a raid by federal officials on Columbia hospitals in El Paso, Texas last week. Agents searched doctors' offices and confiscated billing and medical records.
"A specific review is going on of upcoding at Columbia hospitals," acknowledged Bruce Vladeck, head of the Health Care Financing Administration, the federal agency which runs Medicare.
Investigators are also examining whether it is illegal for Columbia doctors with a financial interest in outside medical services to channel their patients to them.
Columbia executives deny the allegations, saying that their efficient billing procedures mean their competitors are billing too little, not that Columbia is billing to much. They also said that the use of outside medical services was in the best interest of the patients.
Columbia runs about 350 hospitals and treats approximately 125,000 people daily. Columbia/HCA stocks lost 1/8 to 37-1/2 on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
