News in brief - Jan. 17, 2005

Tenet creates settlement fund - Physicians a popular phone-book lookup

Tenet creates settlement fund

Tenet Healthcare Corp. has agreed to establish a $395 million fund to settle claims from more than 750 patients who alleged that physicians at a former Tenet hospital performed hundreds of unnecessary cardiac procedures to boost profits.

Tenet said the settlement, which was announced Dec. 21, 2004, and was subject to court approval, would "substantially" settle patient suits against the firm and subsidiaries stemming from claims that unnecessary procedures were done at the Redding Medical Center in northern California. Robert Simpson, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said the settlement brought the matter to "a fair and honorable conclusion."

Litigation against the physicians allegedly involved in the procedures was not part of the settlement.

In August 2003, Tenet agreed to pay the government $54 million to settle charges that there was "medical necessity fraud" at the hospital, meaning that government programs were billed for medical procedures that were not needed.

The allegations first became public in 2002, when FBI agents raided the offices of two cardiologists at the hospital. Investigators were looking into whether unnecessary heart catheterizations, angioplasties and other open-heart surgeries were performed.

Tenet has since sold its interest in the Redding Medical Center.

Physicians a popular phone-book lookup

Many patients apparently still let their fingers -- or a computer mouse -- do the walking when they're looking for a physician or hospital, as the two health care groups generate about 1.4 billion lookups per year, according to the Yellow Pages Assn.

The "Physicians and Surgeons" heading is the second-most referenced in the Yellow Pages, trailing only the "Restaurants" heading, according to the association. The "Hospitals" heading ranks 11th, according to the association. There are more than 4,000 headings in the Yellow Pages.

Survey data reveal that more than 75% of consumers looking up doctors or hospitals in the Yellow Pages are women. Family physicians, ophthalmologists, ob-gyns and dermatologists top the list of most frequently searched specialists, according to the association.