COLUMBIA INVESTIGATED FOR FRAUD.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The nation's largest health care company, Columbia-HCA Healthcare Corp., is being investigated for possible Medicare fraud Medicare fraud Medifraud Medical practice Any unlawful act which results in the inappropriate billing of Medicare for services by a health care provider–eg, physicians, hospitals and affiliated providers. See Medicare. , officials said Friday. Columbia, which treats 125,000 people a year at its 350 hospitals, faces questions about whether it padded bills to the government. And federal regulators also may be looking into whether the company broke the law by getting doctors to indirectly invest in, and then refer patients to, its outpatient care facilities, the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times reported Friday. Columbia's also has holdings in numerous hospitals in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , including hospitals in West Hills and Thousand Oaks, among others. A spokesman for the inspector general's office at the Health and Human Services Department The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the cabinet-level department of the Executive Branch of the federal government most involved with the health, safety, and welfare of the U.S. population. , who asked not to be identified, said the FBI was helping to look into possible violations of federal law by Columbia after the office that runs Medicare had raised concerns. President Clinton announced a new government crackdown on Medicare fraud at a White House ceremony this week. In the criminal investigation of Columbia, the FBI on March 19 searched El Paso, Texas, medical facilities ``linked to the Columbia health care system,'' said special agent Al Cruz. Documents were seized and are being reviewed, but Cruz would not say exactly what agents are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. . Because the Columbia probe has been turned over to law enforcement, Medicare officials can't comment, said spokesman Rick Wair. The company has not been informed about the scope or nature of the investigation, said Columbia spokeswoman Eve Hutcherson. But she denied the company has either overcharged the government or skirted laws preventing doctors from investing in businesses to which they refer patients. ``I think that it has been and will be our intention to comply with the law, and we have certain policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental in place to attempt to ensure compliance,'' she said. |
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