The U.S. Dept. of Justice has announced that Tenet Healthcare Corporation has agreed to pay more that $900 million to settle allegations of unlawful billing practices.
The settlement is the second-largest ever paid by a for- profit hospital company. It ends a 2003 lawsuit alleging the company cheated Medicare, the U.S. insurance plan for the elderly and disabled, for six years in the 1990s by overbilling. The payment will be made over four years, Tenet said today.
Several of the issues resolved arose from qui tam lawsuits filed by whistleblowers. The False Claims Act allows whistleblowers to bring suits against companies who defraud the government and to share in the recovery.
The DOJ issued a press release on June 29, 2006 and Reuters and Bloomberg reported on the settlement