Fraud in Healthcare (NYT Article)

Michael Hirst, founder of the Hirst Law Group, was quoted in a recent New York Times article revealing allegedly fraudulent practices within HCA, the largest for-profit hospital chain in the United States.



The Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce, Fla.    
Credit: Brad Barr for the New York Times                       

In 2000, as part of a Medicare fraud case settlement, HCA signed a 97-page Corporate Integrity Agreement. Hirst stated that intentional violations of the Agreement could demonstrate "that a defendant, already caught once defrauding the government, has apparently not changed its corporate culture."

Through his prior experience as a former assistant United States attorney and his private practice, Hirst has encountered many large Medicare fraud cases. He oversaw the case against Tenet Healthcare in 2003. In that case, Tenet agreed to pay $54 million to settle allegations similar to those that HCA is currently faced with regarding unnecessary cardiac procedures.


Full article available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/business/hospital-chain-internal-reports-found-dubious-cardiac-work.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all


For information on the Tenet case:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/07/business/tenet-healthcare-paying-54-million-in-fraud-settlement.html