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Columbia/HCA searched
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July 16, 1997: 8:07 p.m. ET
Federal agents swoop into hospital offices for records as part of probe
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Federal agents searched 35 current or former Columbia/HCA hospitals in six states Wednesday as part of a national probe into billing practices, the FBI said.
Law officers from six federal and state agencies swooped into facilities in Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Utah for records, said Derek McGraw, special agent in the FBI's Nashville, Tenn., office.
The FBI was tight-lipped about the case, and affidavits were sealed. McGraw declined to comment about the seized documents or possible arrests.
Based in Nashville, Columbia/HCA Healthcare operates the world's largest for-profit hospital chain.
"The searches were confined to offices and there was no disruption to medical service," McGraw said.
The company handed over records for hospital laboratory billing and homecare operations, said spokeswoman Eve Hutcherson.
"The FBI said the warrants are under seal, so at this point we don't know what we're being accused of," Hutcherson said. "We don't have a lot of information at this point."
Columbia chairman Richard Scott shrugged about the nature of the search, scrambling to take the high road and tout the nobility of the profession.
"We're trying to address the issues, and that's about all we can respond to right now," Scott said on "Moneyline with Lou Dobbs." "All we can do is do what we do every day, and that's taking care of patients and doing the best job we can."
Everyone in health care is "trying to make sure that they have compliance programs in place to address the issues that continue to come up in the industry," Scott said. "It's not a fun day, but … government investigations are a matter of fact today in health care."
Besides the FBI, the agencies in the search included the Inspector General's office, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Defense Criminal Investigative Unit, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Utah Department of Investigation's Medicaid fraud unit.
Agents also searched Florida offices of Olsten Health management, a division of Olsten Corp., which provides management services to some Columbia home health providers in the state, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.
Reaction on Wall Street was swift, with Columbia's stock (COL) tumbling 4-5/8 to 34-5/16 in afternoon trading. 
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