The hospital agreed to the payment without admitting any guilt or wrong doing. The 
charges were in excess of what is considered normal inpatient fees. There are not additional details here.
I am almost betting one could audit almost hospital today and find items as such and perhaps not as high as this, but when you go back and run audit tables over what has been done over the years, this is what happens. 
Just as a footnote, this is where the John Wayne Cancer Institute is located which is one of the most comprehensive centers for advancing surgical oncology and is supported largely with donations. BD
A Santa Monica hospital has agreed to pay the federal government $5.25 million to resolve allegations it submitted inflated claims to Medicare.
Federal prosecutors say from 1996 through 2003, Saint John's Health Center engaged in "turbocharging," meaning it dramatically increased charges billed to Medicare for care provided to hospital inpatients far in excess of any increase in costs associated with that care.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/08/25/state/n161758D90.DTL&type=health
This ot the first Sisters of Charity Leavenworth hospital to plead to billing irregularities. St. James Healthcare in Butte MT paid a $275,000 fine in March 2008 to the Office of Inspector General.
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with this not for profit Catholic Healthcare system? I also hear that they reneged on their promise to build a parking garage for the hospital, condemning the neighborhood residents to a lifetime of living in a parking lot.
And don't forget those sewage spills...
How about investigating vendor kickbacks to hospital management and physicians?
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