Trial Set for Former Columbia/HCA Execs

Four former executives of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. will face trial in a Florida federal court today on charges stemming from a massive Medicare fraud investigation of the world’s largest health care company. Federal prosecutors have charged Jay Jarrell, Michael Neeb, Robert Whiteside and Carl Lynn Dick with conspiracy to defraud and commit criminal offenses against the government. Prosecutors allege the four schemed to report false and fraudulent costs so a Columbia/HCA hospital could overbill Medicare, Medicaid and the medical program of the U.S. military. All four pleaded innocent last summer. The trial, in U.S. District Court in Tampa, is considered an important test of the government’s Medicare investigation, which rocked Columbia/HCA Healthcare and spurred divestitures and changes in top management. The trial of the four former executives is expected to last for months.