Prosecutors want info from Tenet

Documents about cardiac care have been requested from three more hospitals.

By Katherine Vogt, amednews staff. Nov. 24, 2003.

Federal prosecutors have asked Tenet Healthcare Corp. to turn over information about coronary procedures, agreements with cardiac physicians and billing practices at three hospitals in the Los Angeles area.

Tenet announced without comment on Oct. 31 that the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles requested documents from Centinela Hospital Medical Center, Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital and USC University Hospital. The company had previously disclosed that prosecutors were seeking information about physician relocation agreements at seven hospitals in the region, including Daniel Freeman Memorial and Centinela.

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A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Debra Yang declined to say why prosecutors were seeking the documents. Tenet spokesman Steven Campanini said the company has not been told why the documents were sought.

In an earlier case regarding coronary care, Tenet agreed to pay $54 million to settle claims that cardiologists at the Redding (Calif.) Medical Center performed hundreds of unnecessary heart procedures to boost profits. Tenet did not admit any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, the company faces additional woes with the recent ruling of a California appellate court that awarded $253 million in contract damages against Tenet for failing to provide certain stock incentive awards to a former executive who was fired 10 years ago. Tenet said it would ask the court to reconsider the ruling, saying evidence in the case did not justify the "huge award."

Tenet also said it would appeal a recent audit by the California Dept. of Health Services. The state agency announced Nov. 3 that an audit showed the Redding Medical Center had received nearly $12 million in excess reimbursements for Medi-Cal and county medical services. The hospital has repaid nearly $9 million. But Campanini said Tenet disputes the findings about the remaining $3 million and plans to appeal.

Tenet, the nation's second largest for-profit hospital chain, has weathered several other legal storms in the past year, including a government lawsuit about its Medicare billing practices and allegations that a San Diego hospital paid kickbacks to physicians for patient referrals.