CHS, Subject of HHS Probe, Ups Tenet Cash Offer

In its filing Friday afternoon with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CHS said it received a subpoena, dated March 31, from the Office of Inspector General, related to an investigation of "possible improper claims submitted to Medicare and Medicaid."

"We do not know if the subpoena is related in any way to the allegations contained in the lawsuit styled Tenet Healthcare Corporation vs. Community Health Systems, Inc., et al. filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on April 11, 2011. We are cooperating fully with the OIG in connection with this subpoena and are currently unable to predict the outcome of this investigation," CHS said.

CHS said the subpoena that came from the OIG's Chicago office "requests documents from all of our hospitals and appears to concern emergency department processes and procedures, including our hospitals' use of the Pro-MED Clinical Information System, which is a third-party software system that assists with the management of patient care and provides operational support and data collection for emergency department management and has the ability to track discharge, transfer, and admission recommendations of emergency department physicians."

The CHS notice, which was signed by CFO W. Larry Cash, said OIG also requested information about CHS' financial arrangements with emergency department physicians. CHS said the OIG's requests are similar to those made by the Texas Attorney General's Office last November in its civil investigation of CHS's Texas hospitals.