$77-Million Added to Health Giant’s Tab in Foundation Case

A court agreement has added $77-million to a 2013 judgment against the Hospital Corporation of America in connection with a lawsuit over its takeover of a string of nonprofit medical centers in the Kansas City area, reports The Kansas City Star.

The funds come on top of a $162-million award the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City won in January 2013 against HCA, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital system. The foundation sued the company in 2009, claiming it had fallen short of promised spending on capital improvements and charity care at the former nonprofit medical centers it had purchased six years earlier.

Lawyers for HCA and the foundation signed off Tuesday on the $77-million addition, calculated by a special master appointed by the judge in the case to review books and determine more precisely how much the firm had spent on the hospitals. The pact preserves HCA’s right to appeal the original verdict in the case, and none of the shortfall has yet been paid.