11.  One reason for the more aggressive billing practices at some companies is the easing of rules governing the way companies charge fees for services.

12.  Teaching hospitals are the target of a similar investigation into Medicare billing practices.

13.  The computer information services all agreed to changes in their marketing and billing practices, the FTC said.

14.  The settlement with LabCorp of Burlington, North Carolina, is the largest to date in an wide-ranging government probe of clinical laboratory industry billing practices.

15.  Vencor, too, was investigated for its Medicare billing practices.