From: L.A. Times - Health
The ruling by an Alabama judge stems from an investor suit alleging
Richard Scrushy was involved in years of overstating the companys
earnings and assets. A state judge on Thursday ordered former
HealthSouth Corp. Chief Executive Richard Scrushy to pay nearly 2.9
billion to shareholders who sued over a massive accounting fraud
that nearly sent the rehabilitation chain into bankruptcy.
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$65 Billion in Medicare Fraud
The government run health insurance plan for seniors continues to
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Improving Safety And Eliminating Redundant Tests: Cutting Costs In U.S. Hospitals [Health Tracking]
High costs and unsafe care are major challenges for U.S. hospitals.
Two sources of raised costs and unsafe care are adverse events in
hospitals and tests ordered by several different physicians. After
reviewing rates of these two occurrences in U.S. hospitals and
simulating their costs, we estimated that in 2004 alone,
eliminating readily preventable adverse events would have resulted
in direct savings of more than $16.6 billion (5.5 percent of total
inpatient costs). Eliminating redundant tests would have saved an
additional $8 billion (2.7 percent). Addressing these situations
could generate major savings to the system while improving patient
care.
