Tenet Healthcare is Focus of Medicare Fraud Probe

Last week, Tenet Healthcare acknowledged, in a regulatory filing, that the United States Department of Justice is investigating whether one of Tenet’s hospitals fraudulently billed Medicare for heart defibrillator implant surgeries.  The D.O.J. probe dates to March 2010, when it issued a demand to Tenet under the False Claims Act seeking information and patient records detailing Tenet’s submissions for implantable heart defibrillator procedures as far back as 2002.  According to Tenet’s filing, the company believes the Justice Department is attempting to determine if the defibrillator procedures followed Medicare coverage requirements.

Implantable defibrillator manufacturers Medtronic and St. Jude Medical, Inc. previously acknowledged receiving similar requests from the Justice Department in March.  Like Medtronic and St. Jude, Tenet said it will cooperate with the government’s investigation.

For more information see:  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0317069820100803