The Columbia/HCA Scandal

Paper Summary:

The paper describes the Columbia scandal where Columbia/HCA was able to abuse its power to embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars from the Medicare system. The paper provides an analysis of the sociological and criminological theories that caused the corporate malfeasance. The paper shows how the Columbia/HCA scandal is emblematic of many high-profile white-collar crimes. The paper asserts that since the simple explanations of poverty and low social class are inadequate to explain white-collar crime, new paradigmatic frameworks must be established to account for such high-status offenders.

Outline:
Case History
Victims and Motivations
Evolution
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"On July 16th, 1997, federal and state agents swarmed into Columbia/HCA hospitals across the country. The agents had search warrants in hand, looking for evidence of Medicare fraud. At each hospital, computers and boxes of records were confiscated, some agents requiring rented U-Hauls to transport the massive volume of documents. The Columbia/HCA system was the United States 9th largest employer, and the largest health care company in the world. It's founder, Richard L. Scott, was only 43 years old at the time, and had been ranked by Fortune Magazine as the most admired health care company. Its 1996 revenue was over $19.9 billion, and it owned over 350 hospitals. The major funding, and the family that had the most to gain from Columbia/HCAs activities, were the Frists of Tennessee, the most notable member of that family being Republican Senator Bill Frist, former Senate Majority Leader. However, Columbia/HCA was in deep trouble."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ackman, Dan. "Disaster Of The Day: HCA." Forbes Magazine 15 Dec 2000: 46-7.
• Brown, Stephen E., Finn-Aage Esbensen, and Gilbert Geis. Criminology: Explaining Crime and Its Context. 5th ed. Cincinnati: LexisNexis, 2004.
• Eichenwald, Kurt. "HCA Is Said To Reach Deal On Settlement Of Fraud Case." New York Times 18 Dec 2002: 93-94.
• Ermann, M. David, and Richard Lundman. Corporate and Governmental Deviance. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Ginsburg, Carl. "The Patient As Profit Center; Hospital Inc. Comes To Town," The Nation, 18 Nov 1996, p. 18.

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