News-Leader: Cox expects to pay federal government $60 million

The Springfield News-Leader reports Cox Health officials expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 million to the federal government to settle a Medicaid fraud case:

What Cox calls a "tentative agreement" was reached Sept. 30, 2007. No final settlement date was noted in the document.

Under terms of the tentative settlement, CoxHealth will pay $35 million upon execution of a final settlement agreement, and $5 million in each of the next five years with interest of 4.5 percent.

The document added, "This estimate continues to be uncertain and may be subject to material change in the near future."

The details appeared in a document, called audited financials, created by the Springfield-based accounting firm of BKD that appeared on a Web site for municipal bond traders, investors and analysts. It includes financial statements from 2006 and 2007.

The "Accountants' Report and Consolidated Financial Statements" was prepared for the Cox board with a cover letter dated Feb. 1, 2008.

When asked about the tentative settlement, CoxHealth spokeswoman Laurie Cunningham responded with this e-mail: "We don't have a final settlement with the federal government and until we do, we can't comment on specifics in the negotiations.

The investigation was first revealed in the June 8, 2005 Turner Report.