A group of 24 Tennessee hospitals, including Vanderbilt Medical Center, is suing the Department of Health and Human Services to recoup $200 million in payments they say they are owed for treating low-income Medicaid patients. Lawyers for the group say the government reneged on an earlier commitment to pay back the hospitals for care that had been provided to low-income patients who did not qualify for TennCare, the state's program for the disadvantaged. The hospitals say they're being nickled and dimed out of much needed funding. Approximately one-third of Vanderbilt's patient base qualifies for TennCare. The hospital earned $1.3 billion in revenues in the 2005 fiscal year.
- see this article from the Tennessean