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Hospital coverage tilted

The April 12 issue of The Spokesman-Review carried a brief article about a suit filed against Community Health Systems for alleged Medicare fraud. The article failed to mention that CHS owned both Deaconess and Valley hospitals in Spokane, as well as being owner of Rockwood Clinic.

KHQ-TV later made the link between CHS and the two hospitals but failed to mention the ownership of Rockwood by CHS.

Not mentioned in all this “coverage” was the fact that the attorney general for Texas was investigating CHS activities. In addition, the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a subpoena in March that also dealt with Medicare fraud and overbilling by CHS.

The citizens of Spokane are not having full news coverage when important information like this is withheld from the public. Three cases of Legionnaires’ disease at Sacred Heart get lengthy, detailed coverage, while the alleged multimillion-dollar misdeeds of CHS get pretty much ignored by the local news media. We deserve better coverage of news that affects our health care decisions.

Donald F. Calbreath

Spokane

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