HCA HEALTHCARE INC

Serial healthcare fraud: HCA paid $1.7B total -- the largest healthcare fraud recovery in U.S. history. Includes $840M in criminal fines (2000) for up-coding, false billing, and billing medically unnecessary procedures; $631M civil settlement (2003) for cost-report fraud and physician kickbacks; and a separate $16.5M False Claims Act settlement (2007) for paying financial incentives to a Chattanooga physician group to induce patient referrals to HCA facilities. Whistleblowers received $151.6M combined.

HCA Healthcare (formerly Columbia/HCA) paid $1.7 billion to resolve the largest healthcare fraud investigation in U.S. history. The Department of Justice announced the final settlement in June 2003, concluding a multi-year investigation into false claims submitted to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE. The fraud involved cost report manipulation, kickbacks to physicians for patient referrals, and billing for unnecessary services. In December 2000, HCA subsidiaries paid $840 million in criminal fines and civil damages. A subsequent June 2003 settlement added $631 million in civil penalties. An additional $250 million was paid to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for overpayment claims. Whistleblowers received $151.6 million in combined qui tam awards. HCA's then-CEO Rick Scott resigned during the investigation.

In NLRB Case No. 12-CA-263656, HCA Healthcare Inc. was accused of unlawfully interrogating employees about their union activities and creating the impression of surveillance at its Riverside Community Hospital facility in 2020.