Deadline could speed up health care fraud settlements

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- A judge has given the U.S. government until March 15 to decide whether it will join more whistle-blower lawsuits that allege health-care fraud by HCA-The Healthcare Co., the biggest U.S. hospital company and a big player in the Las Vegas health care industry.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth set the deadline in a Jan. 30 order that came less than two months after the company and Department of Justice agreed to an $840 million settlement of related criminal and civil health-care fraud allegations.

The deadline may speed efforts to settle remaining civil allegations that the company routinely inflated cost reports filed with government health-insurance programs and paid physicians kickbacks to refer patients to its hospitals. Those issues weren't included in a Dec. 14 settlement in which HCA pleaded guilty to 14 criminal charges and agreed to pay $95 million in criminal fines and a $745 million civil payment.

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