Federal authorities say two California hospital operators — one of which runs three Central Coast hospitals — have paid $2.3 million to settle claims that they overcharged the government for medical services, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento said this week.
Federal auditors found that Catholic Healthcare West and Sutter Health Association improperly billed Medicare more than once for the same medical procedures.
The allegations at Catholic Healthcare West fall to 36 of its affiliates, including French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, Arroyo Grande Community Hospital and Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria.
CHW, the nation’s fifth largest hospital provider and the largest in California, paid more than $875,000 toward the settlement. Sutter, which has hospitals in Northern California, paid more than $1.4 million.
The settlement stemmed from a yearlong investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services that began with department auditors, said Lauren Horwood, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento.
The probe centered on CHW activities from January 2002 to March 2008 on double billing Medicare for infusion therapies and treatments to break up kidney and bladder stones.
“This settlement not only recoups overpayments made by Medicare, it helps ensure more accurate billing practices by these hospital systems in the future,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said in a statement.
Officials at the two health companies admitted no wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement, Horwood said. No charges will be filed.
In a statement, CHW officials said the government in 2009 notified them of the overpayments. CHW auditors identified the charges — $875,564 in all — and returned the money to Medicare.
“CHW is committed to ethical business practices and is pleased to have resolved this matter,” the statement read.
SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.
Here are some rules of the road:
You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@thetribunenews.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@thetribunenews.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
Be the first to know what's going on in San Luis Obispo County. Just tell us how you want to find out — we'll take care of the rest.
Sign up for breaking news alerts from SanLuisObispo.com and get the latest news sent to your cell phone via text message.
By signing up for alerts from this site, you are signing up for a program that may include up to 5 SMS text alert(s) per alert category per day. There is no service fee charged per month but your carrier's standard text messaging and other charges may apply. You may stop this subscription service at any time by sending the text message "STOP" to 72737. You must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to use our alert services. If you are between 13 and 17 years old, you agree that you have received parental permission both to complete the registration process and to receive SMS content on your cell phone. For help, send the text message "HELP" to 72737. This service will work with ATT, Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, Alltell, US Cellular, Cincinnati Bell, Boost, Virgin Mobile USA, Celluar South, Telos, Centennial, East Kentucky Network, Cellcom, Immix and Rural Celluar.
E-mail »
Twitter »
Facebook »
iTribune »
Subscribe »
RSS »
About comments
Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.