Tenet to undergo integrity monitoring

Hospital giant Tenet has agreed to five years of corporate integrity monitoring as part of its settlement with the Department of Health and Human Services. In June, the company was ordered to pay $725 million to resolve outstanding charges that it improperly billed Medicare and violated other federal rules governing hospitals. The five-year agreement establishes annual training requirements and compliance reviews by independent organizations in certain specific areas. The company must also formalize its billing and reimbursement policies related to anti-kickback laws. The company's ethics will be monitored until the agreement expires in 2011.

For more on the monitoring:
- read this report from the Philadelphia Inquirer
- see Tenet's press release