The ongoing tug-of-war regarding Community Health Systems' (NYSE: CYH) hostile takeover attempt of Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) dominated a CHS meeting earnings call last week, with the company presenting 110 slides to rebut Tenet accusations, reports Healthcare Finance News.
Tenet filed suit against CHS to block a takeover attempt, accusing CHS of admitting excess patients to its hospitals in order to bill Medicare at a higher rate than if the patients had merely been under observation. The accusations have led to the U.S. Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services to consolidate probes into Community.
During the April 28 conference call, CHS chief executive officer Wayne T. Smith declared that "the lawsuit against Community Health Systems and the proxy contest could negatively affect the entire healthcare sector." He added that several analysts had said the Tenet lawsuit is both "misguided and wrong." He also asked why Tenet did not disclose in its SEC filings the observation metric it accused CHS of manipulating.
Tenet officials fired back with their own missive. "Nothing we heard today from Community Health diminishes our confidence in our analysis or allegations," said company spokesman Rick Black. "We plan to vigorously pursue our claims in court."
Neverthless, today CHS upped its bid for Tenet by 20 percent to $7.25 a share from $6, in its latest attempt to win over the company, notes Medical News Today.
For more:
- read the Healthcare Finance News article
- here's the Medical News Today article