DALLAS, April 2 (UPI) -- U.S. hospital firm Tenet Healthcare said Monday it has settled its suit with the government on Medicare fraud charges for $10 million.
The company said it has agreed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to the monetary penalty to end the fraud probe that has dogged the hospital conglomerate for years.
Tenet said it had previously established a reserve in that sum in the fourth quarter to cover the expected settlement cost.
"With this SEC settlement, we have now concluded all the investigations and litigation that arose after the outlier and other matters first surfaced in late October 2002," said Peter Urbanowicz, Tenet's general counsel. "Tenet today is virtually a new company."
The SEC had filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Tenet and four former officers alleging the healthcare company had willfully inflated charges for both inpatient and outpatient services that were reimbursed by Medicare as so-called "outlier" or higher than normal payments.
Tenet also agreed last year to pay to the government more than $700 million, and waive another $175 million in Medicare payments.
Tenet said that, since a new management team and board took over, it has made "dramatic changes in its operations, financial safeguards, governance and compliance."
