Hospital Chain Inquiry Cited Unnecessary Cardiac Work
Source: The New York Times
...
HCA, the largest for-profit hospital chain in the United States with 163 facilities, had uncovered evidence as far back as 2002 and as recently as late 2010 showing that some cardiologists at several of its hospitals in Florida were unable to justify many of the procedures they were performing...
Questions about the necessity of medical procedures -especially in the realm of cardiology -are not uncommon. None of the internal documents reviewed calculate just how many such procedures there were or how many patients might have died or been injured as a result.
Read more: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/business/hospital-chain-internal-reports-found-dubious-cardiac-work.xml
Florida governor Rick Scott was the CEO of HCA when the company was charged with Medicare fraud. Things never change sometimes.
= new reply since forum marked as read
it also aims at putting a big crimp in the legal profession; they're usually big DNC contributors, that's really why it doesn't pass muster. I hope they keep knocking it down. Vote straight DEMocratic. 
back in the early '70s he told me there was lots of unnecessary surgery's, especially heart surgeries. 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Hospital operator HCA Inc. said Friday that federal prosecutors have issued a subpoena for documents the company believes may be related to the sale of its stock by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
A release from the Nashville-based company said the subpoena came from the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Frist’s office confirmed the SEC is looking into the sale.
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HCA, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital company, was founded by Frist’s father and his brother was formerly its CEO and chairman and remains on the board of directors.
Frist asked a trustee to sell all his HCA stock in June, near a 52-week stock price peak of $58.40 and at the same time HCA insiders were selling off shares. Reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission showed insiders sold about 2.3 million shares, worth about $112 million, from January through June, said Mark LoPresti of Thomson Financial.
The sale came about two weeks before the company issued a disappointing earnings forecast that drove its stock price down almost 16 percent by mid-July. They still have not recovered, closing Thursday at $45.90.
man... I just hate those "disappointing earnings" reports
but several years ago I posted in the old DU about a job offer that I had that was reviewing charts for the entire country regarding medicare fraud specifically cardiac care. And, they were starting in Florida.
I am guessing this is the fruits of that.
HCA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HCA): HCA Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HCA), a health care services companies in the United States, posted its financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012. Revenue in the latest quarter was increased by 12% to US$8.112 billion, from US$7.249 billion in the same quarter of 2011. For the same quarter, net income attributable to HCA Holdings, Inc. was US$391 million, or US$0.85 per diluted share. That is compared with US$229 million, or US$0.43 per diluted share, in the prior-year quarter. By the end of Monday's trading, shares of HCA Holdings slumped 3.95% to US$25.55 with significant volume traded. There were 10.56 million stock shares traded, which was 3 times more than average volume. Investors may want to find out how HCA Holdings insiders like CEOs, CFOs and Directors are thinking about the future of the company. Check this insider trade report for HCA here.
http://www.nebraska.tv/story/19214108/critical-stock-alerts-bank-of-america-apple-hca-holdings-aes-micron-and-advanced-micro-devices
(emphasis added)
$8.112 billion in three months on the backs of people who have the misfortune to fall sick or injured. It's crazy making that we can fund profits like this, but can't figure out a way to fund Medicare. I give up. 
