Columbia reaches $745M settlement with federal government
Columbia reaches $745M settlement with federal government
By MEREDITH BONNER
HHBR Assistant Managing Editor
After nearly three years of federal investigations, Columbia/HCA Healthcare (Nashville, TN) has agreed to pay the U.S. government $745 million in a tentative settlement resolving the several charges of Medicare fraud against the company. The allegations include Columbia’s handling of some of its home healthcare operations and its billing of laboratory claims. The Justice Department (Washington) said the agreement still needs approval from several other federal agencies.
But while the settlement was reached last week, it does not represent the end of the battle for Columbia. The deal leaves the company with a couple of outstanding civil issues, as well as a criminal investigation that it has to settle by year end under the terms of last week’s agreement, according to media reports.
And, in fact, prosecuters in Tampa filed papers recently saying the investigation is "still very much alive." In addition to the ongoing areas of investigation, the prosecuters say, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Miami has opened four new matters in the investigation. The end of the probe seemed to be near for Columbia when, in late December, the attorney’s office closed its investigation of the company’s home health operations without any indictment. But U.S. Attorney Kathleen Haley wrote in the papers, "The fact that several individuals were not prosecuted in the Southern District of Florida does not mean that the investigation is over."
On the civil front, issues surrounding Columbia’s relationships with physicians and its handling of Medicare cost reports remain unresolved.
The probe has been going on since March 1997 when the Justice Department first began investigations into the company’s billing practices. It has since spawned six civil whistleblower lawsuits and two criminal convictions, including those of Jay Jarrell and Robert Whiteside, both former Columbia executives, the Tennessean (Nashville) reported. Jarrell was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison, and Whiteside was sentenced to two years. In mid-January, Jarrell and Whiteside were freed, pending appeal of their convictions. They were granted freedom while their cases are being heard by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, according to an HHBR report.
Columbia said it has racked up more than $200 million in legal and other professional fees alone related to the government investigation. After the beginning of the probe, Columbia sold its home health division, Columbia Homecare Group (Dallas).
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