|
Hawthorne hospital pays $2 million to resolve Medicare fraud
claims
Tuesday February 04, 2003
HAWTHORNE, Calif. (AP) Without admitting wrongdoing, Robert F.
Kennedy Medical Center has paid the U.S. government $2 million to
resolve Medicare fraud allegations brought by a ``whistleblower''
lawsuit.
The government received the payment Jan. 28 and the lawsuit by
Health Outcomes Technologies Inc., of Doylestown, Penn., was
unsealed Monday. Under the U.S. False Claims Act, anyone can file
suit on behalf of the federal government and share in any
settlement. Health Outcomes gets $280,000.
U.S. Attorney Debra W. Yang said Tuesday that the 255-bed
hospital was accused by Health Outcomes, a software provider, of
routinely seeking a higher rate of Medicare reimbursement than the
services it performed.
The practice of billing Medicare for a more serious condition
than the hospital actually treats is known as ``upcoding,'' Yang
said.
Joan Bero, the hospital's president and chief executive, said
the settlement ends an investigation of bills submitted from 1994
to 1998.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
|