Hospitals to pay millions for alleged overbilling
Mar 8 (2 days ago)
See the “article below” on hospitals overcharging in Texas and Florida. ” That ain’t all, folks!” I bet you could pick the same problem up everywhere in the US. This is one of the reasons why HC in America is in so much trouble!
That, along with ,the mishandling of Medicare and Medicaid in Washington, the Pharma $ companies, sloppy bookkeeping by hospitals and some physicians, insurance company charges etc., etc., there is a real story and a half here. We have two levels of billing going on with services, depending on where you go, or if you are paying out of pocket and not through an insurance company.
Fun and games………..!
A Texas hospital and radiology group settled a federal lawsuit with the U.S. Attorney’s office Tuesday over illegal double billing, KRIS-TV reported.
According to federal prosecutors, Driscoll Children’s Hospital-owned Children’s Physician Services of South Texas and Radiology Associates each billed the government for the same procedure over five years, resulting in at least $12.3 million in wrongful reimbursement, according to the report.
“Prosecutors said the children’s clinic billed the government twice, once for the cost of taking the genetic ultrasound and once for the cost of interpreting the ultrasound, despite an agreement with the radiology clinic that each office would only bill for one component of the exam,” according to the article. The ultrasounds were ordered for women with risky pregnancies.
The settlement left Driscoll Health with a $1.5 million bill and Radiology Associates with $800,000. Driscoll Children’s Hospital, in a statement, called the claims a “matter of interpretation” and said the hospital system settled “to avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience and expense of protracted litigation,” KRIS-TV reported
Meanwhile, a whistleblower lawsuit filed against Florida Hospital continues in federal court even after the nonprofit hospital repaid $3 million in government overpayments, reported the Orlando Sentinel.