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Hospital giant paying to settle billing probe

Tuesday, June 18, 2002 | 11:22 a.m.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Tenet Healthcare Corp., the second-biggest U.S. hospital chain and owner of Lake Mead Hospital in North Las Vegas, will pay $55.75 million to settle allegations that two of its hospitals overbilled the U.S. government's Medicare program.

Tenet took reserves for the settlement before Feb. 28, the company said in a release.

Tenet's settlement is the latest in a series of settlements involving hospitals overbilling of Medicare, the U.S. government health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled. No. 1 hospital chain HCA Inc. and Quorum Health Group Inc., now part of Triad Hospitals Inc., have in recent months reached multimillion-dollar settlements with the government.

The investigations into Tenet's Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, Calif., and Palmetto General Hospital in Florida involved billing violations dating to before 1998, Tenet said. The company didn't immediately return a call for comment.

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