Hospitals: The cost of admission

Dec. 2, 2012  The following script is from “The Cost of Admission” which aired on Dec. 2, 2012. Steve Kroft is the correspondent. Sam Hornblower, Michael Rey and Oriana Zill, producers.    For more than a year, we have been looking into the admission and billing practices of Health Management Associates. It’s the fourth largest for-profit hospital chain in the country with revenues of $5.8 billion last year, nearly half of that coming from Medicare and Medicaid programs. We talked to more than 100 current and former employees and we heard a similar story over and over: that HMA relentlessly pressured its doctors to admit more and more patients — regardless of medical need — in order to increase revenues.  Read more and/or watch the segment