Columbia HCA Fraud Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

capital of South Carolina HCA Fraud Case - Essay ExampleMy goal is to relate the case to the subject of Business moral philosophy and derive important lessons on how business should be conducted.Reading thru the case study, we can discern the many causal factors of the federal investigation of Columbia/ HCA. From what I can understand, the investigation was brought about by a combination of internal and external factors which is presented belowIt was started in June 1996 by Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin that the Medicare program allow for go broke by 2001 with the way funds are being spent. Expenditures were increasing exp iodinntially with $ one hundred sixty trillion for the 1994 fiscal year. Thats about $440 million per day. By the year 2003, it is projected that it will mushroom to $380 billion or $1 billion per day according to the Congressional Budget Office. As a customary observation, any activity that increases or decreases suddenly is subject to the curiosity of other people especially when it involves large amounts of money. This being the case, it only took a matter of time before it caught the attention of government authorities who watch become very keen in finding ways to eliminate unnecessary expenditures and catching double-tongued transactions.The arguments used by the managers to justify the large increase in Medicare costs was the increase in efficiency, to a greater extent expensive equipment and better accounting practices. These arguments alone are enough to stir speculations because Medicare expenditures should sharpen due to the rise in harder-to-treat diseases requiring more expensive medication. Does it make sense then that there was an increase in smashing and chronic disease when the health care service became more efficient Does it mean those doctors in the chivalric misdiagnosed patients and when Columbia/HCA came into the picture, they suddenly became experts in diagnosis (Remember that most of the doctors were still those under the past management)New mandate Protecting WhistleblowersWhistleblowers are those that expose the anomalies of their employees, partners, and co-employees. Anomalous activities, in this case, refers to fraudulent acts that cheat the government (and consequently the taxpayers) of their money. It may include tax evasion and false claims. In the past, whistleblowers were exposed to retribution by the entities who they claim is tenanted in anomalous activities. They could only expect minimal attention from the authorities and if ever they were given much(prenominal) attention, they could only expect minimal legal assistance so why bother being one Unless you have very deep grievances against the person, being a whistleblower was a risky venture.With the new legislation, more legal protection for the whistleblower was provided. Incentives were also offered such as the 30% of the recovered money expiry to the whistleblower which was mentioned in the reading. With the comb ination of these two important measures, whistle-blowing became a less risky venture.The focus of government Authorities in Stemming Corruption.