Michael Hirst, founder of the Hirst Law Group, was quoted in a New York Times article revealing allegedly fraudulent practices within HCA, the largest for-profit hospital chain in the United States.

The Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce, Fla.     Credit: Brad Barr for the New York Times

In 2000, as part of a Medicare fraud case settlement, HCA signed a 97-page Corporate Integrity Agreement. Hirst stated that intentional violations of the Agreement could demonstrate "that a defendant, already caught once defrauding the government, has apparently not changed its corporate culture."

Through his experience as a former supervisor of fraud cases in the U.S. Attorney's office, and since then in private practice, Hirst has prosecuted numerous Medicare and other fraud cases.


Full article available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/business/hospital-chain-internal-reports-found-dubious-cardiac-work.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

For information on the Tenet case:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/07/business/tenet-healthcare-paying-54-million-in-fraud-settlement.html