A $400 million fraud and kickback case against former Tenet Healthcare executives may finally advance to trial after federal investigators received the green light to use statements from 10 alleged co-conspirators, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sept. 30.
Five things to know:
1. John Holland previously served as senior vice president of operations for Tenet's Southern States Region and as CEO of North Fulton Medical Center in Roswell, Ga. In October 2016, Tenet paid $514 million to resolve allegations it paid kickbacks for patient referrals.
2. However, in February 2017, the Justice Department alleged Mr. Holland also evaded Tenet's accounting controls to pay illegal kickbacks to clinics in Georgia and South Carolina, which referred pregnant patients on Medicaid to Tenet hospitals. Prosecutors allege Tenet billed Medicaid more than $400 million as a result of these referrals.
3. Other defendants in the case include WIlliam Moore, former vice president of operations for Tenet and CEO of Atlanta Medical Center — when it was under Tenet's control — and Edmundo Cota, CEO of a company that operated clinics for predominantly undocumented women. Prosecutors allege Tenet paid $12 million in kickbacks to one of Mr. Cota's clinics, Clinica de la Mama in Norcross, Ga., to ensure patients gave birth at Tenet hospitals between 2000 and 2013.
4. Mr. Holland has waited almost eight years to go to trial after being told more than 10 years ago that he was the target of a government investigation involving allegations of misconduct.
5. The trial against Mr. Holland, Mr. Moore and Mr. Cota had been stalled as prosecutors appealed a judge's ruling that blocked out-of-court statements from the alleged co-conspirators, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Tenet did not respond to Becker's request for comment.