Watchdog gets touch on Medicare fraud. Inspector general has strong-armed nearly $10 million in hospital settlements.

The HHS investigative branch has wrested $10 million in settlements from 43 hospitals or hospital systems since the start of Medicare's prospective payment system in 1983. The federal government is hurling its resources at hospitals, which have found it more cost-effective to work out a discreet deal rather than fight allegations in court. Some charge that the inspector general's office is more interested in being punitive with providers than prudent with taxpayer's money.