Tenet pays $54 million in fraud settlement

The Redding, Calif., hospital at the center of the allegations agrees to an outside audit of cardiac procedures.

By Katherine Vogt, AMNews staff. Aug. 25, 2003.

Tenet HealthCare Corp. has agreed to pay a record $54 million to settle government allegations that cardiologists at a hospital in Redding, Calif., performed hundreds of unnecessary heart procedures.

Prosecutors say it is the largest settlement ever negotiated with the government in a case alleging medical necessity fraud in which government programs were billed for medical procedures that were not needed.

The agreement focuses on claims of unnecessary cardiac procedures and surgeries at Redding Medical Center, a Tenet hospital, from 1997-2002.

Patients have alleged in lawsuits that doctors at the hospital performed hundreds of unnecessary invasive heart procedures -- including some that led to death -- to increase profits. Lawyers for some of the nearly 100 patients and relatives who are suing physicians, the hospital and Tenet all did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Under the terms of the settlement, the U.S. Dept. of Justice said it won't pursue further civil or criminal charges against Tenet or the hospital. However, the government's investigation of individuals, including any physicians involved, will continue.

Tenet, the troubled hospital chain that has been the focus of several other government inquiries in the last year, did not admit any wrongdoing. Company officials said agreeing to the settlement was a business decision. "We made a strategic business decision to negotiate a reasonable settlement in a spirit of cooperation in order to put this matter behind us," said Trevor Fetter, Tenet's president and acting chief executive officer, in a written statement.