At the last meeting of CHA's Board of Trustees, the Board indicated its strong desire for the association to participate constructively in the government's effort to furnish guidance to healthcare providers with respect to detecting and preventing fraud and abuse. Specifically, the association has 530 hospital members.
Catholic systems comprise ten of the twenty largest healthcare systems in the country.
More important than the number of our institutions and their evident financial strength, however, is the mission which motivates the Catholic health ministry. It is that mission which has provided significant contributions to the health of Americans since the early nineteenth century. CHA shares the view that both the government and the hospital community can benefit from hospitals' adoption of reasonable, well-constructed corporate compliance programs. Our comments generally fall into four categories. First, CHA shares the OIG's belief that hospitals have an obligation to serve their community with the highest ethical standards.