State and federal officials are looking into whether high infection rates at Prime Health Care hospitals -- including Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood -- are the result of a multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud scheme, according to California Watch.
Patients at Prime's 13 Southern California hospitals have a higher incidence of septicemia, a potentially life-threatening blood infection that affects mostly older patients. Medicare pays several thousand dollars more to treat this condition because of its severity.
Hospital officials have denied wrongdoing, saying their patients are sicker than most and that hospitals don't make a profit on Medicare reimbursement.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department and the state Department of Justice began the probe at the urging of two lawmakers, who were tipped off to the higher infection rates by the Service Employees International Union.
The union represents several workers at Prime's facilities, including Centinela, and has been locked in bitter labor disputes with the company's owner, Prem Reddy.
Reddy has a well-known reputation for cost-cutting measures and aggressive insurance billing, and is not well liked by unions. After he bought Centinela in 2007, the company laid off about 13 percent of its staff.
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