Community Health Systems pays $98M to settle DOJ claims

Franklin-based hospital company Community Health Systems will pay a total of more than $98 million to settle a Department of Justice investigation into the company's billing practices. About $88 million of the settlement will go to resolve claims made by the federal government that between January 2005 and December 2010, 119 of the company's hospitals billed the government for inpatient admissions when, in the government's view, those services should have been billed as outpatient cases. Those types of patients tend to less expensive than those that need hospitalization.