According to the Associated Press:  "Officials at Columbia-HCA Healthcare 
Corp., the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, could face criminal 
charges from an expanding fraud investigation".
 
It seems fair to suggest that the public may react negatively insofar as 
physicians and hospitals owned by Columbia-HCA at a time when we aren't told 
how many of their 342 hospitals may be complying with a complicated set of 
guidelines used by the Health Care Financing Administration...Medicare.
 
Conclusions were based on records from 35 hospitals and offices in 7 states, 
with alledged irregularities related to lab procedures and home healthcare.
 
Some of these hospitals were previously owned by employees and physicians, 
who made improvements in equipment, staffing and services.
 
What will be the best approach to avoiding and correcting the temptation to 
focus on "the bottom line" -- profits?
 
And most of all...what do you think the more than 150,000 patients should do?
 
Do you recall the many rural hospitals forced to close, due to finances...in 
areas short of physicians and without other nearby hospitals...there have 
been many!  We just don't seem to hear much from our physicians, staff and 
patients who are doing things "correctly" and get no "Roses" for the 
free-clinics, dedication and the hospitals trying to stay solvent...hmmm,
 
Harry 
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