Dive Brief:
- A federal probe is looking into allegations that executives at four Tenet Healthcare Corp. hospitals in Georgia and South Carolina provided kickbacks to obstetric clinics in exchange for patient referrals and falsely sought Medicare reimbursements for procedures over a period of 10 years.
- The probe is the result of a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in 2009, claiming that the clinics were paid to direct undocumented Hispanic patients to Tenet facilities to undergo deliveries covered by Medicaid.
- The hospitals are "designated as targets of the government's criminal investigation," the hospital system stated in a May 4 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Dive Insight:
The probe is part of the DOJ's crackdown on healthcare fraud, which has led to the recovery of more than $13 billion, as Bloomberg notes. It is also looking at the Health Management Associates for alleged kickbacks to the same clinics.
Tenet has dealt with other allegations in the past, including in a $900 million settlement in 2006 to resolve allegations of Medicare overbilling.
Tenet spokesman Donn Walker told Bloomberg the company had "disclosed this investigation in our public filings for some time" and declined further comment.