The list of violations
In two huge settlements, Columbia/HCA hospitals paid the federal government $1.7 billion to settle allegations of a broad range of frauds against Medicare committed by the company while Rick Scott was chief executive.
The civil fines included settling these allegations:
• Upcoding, or claiming patients were sicker than they were to get more money from Medicare: $403 million
• Inflated hospital cost reporting to get more money out of Medicare:
$356 million
• Physician kickbacks: $225.5 million
• Improper billing of patients for home health visits:
$106 million
• False cost reports involving the purchase of home health agencies: $90 million
• False cost reports concerning marketing expenses: $50 million
• False cost reports on Curative Wound Care Centers: $17 million
• False cost reports on Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce:
$5 million
• False billing for transferred patients: $5 million
• False cost reports involving Cedars Medical Center in Miami: $950,000
Criminal fines against two HCA subsidiaries:
$95.3 million
Source: Department of Justice
The illegal kickbacks
In a lawsuit filed in 1999, the Justice Department accused Columbia/HCA of making illegal payments to almost 250 doctors in Florida and Texas in exchange for patient referrals from the doctors — a violation of antikickback laws, government lawyers said. The company later pleaded guilty to one criminal charge of illegal kickbacks and paid a $30 million fine. Neither Rick Scott nor any other company executive was criminally charged.
Florida hospitals
| Columbia/HCA Hospital | Illegal Payments | Doctors Paid | Medicare Referrals |
| Aventura Hospital & Medial Center | $1.3 million | 18 | $8 million |
| Miami Heart Institute | $3.3 million | 16 | $34.1 million |
| Plantation General Hospital | $326,000 | 8 | $800,000 |
| Palms West Hospital (Palm Beach County) | $2 million | 23 | $5 million |
| Southwest Florida Regional Hospital (Lee County) | $907,000 | 17 | $2.8 million |
| Florida total | $7.9 million | 82 | $50.8 million |
Texas hospitals
| El Paso area hospitals | $6.9 million | 77 | $103.3 million |
| Corpus Christi area hospitals | $2.3 million | 75 | $19.9 million |
Source: Federal court records
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