Business
Tenet settles uninsured billing case
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 5, 2005
Tenet Healthcare Corp. is a step closer to resolving scores of lawsuits brought by uninsured patients who claim they were overbilled for care at 114 hospitals owned by the Dallas-based company.
Judge Wendell Mortimer Jr. of Los Angeles County U.S. Superior Court on Aug. 8 approved a proposed settlement in which Tenet agreed to issue some refunds and offer uninsured patients the same discounts available to managed care participants for at least four years, according to a law firm representing the plaintiffs, Hagens, Berman, Sobol, Shapiro, LLP.
Tenet spokesman Steve Campanini said the judge's approval would affect litigants in California.
Those involved in similar class-action lawsuits in eight other states would have to decide whether to accept the settlement or appeal the decision, he said. Those states are Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Tenet, which did not admit any wrongdoing under the settlement, previously said that it had set aside $30 million to resolve the claims.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/09/05/bibf0905.htm.
