Business & Tech

Easton Hospital Owes $455K, U.S. Attorney Says

Government says Easton Hospital and St. Luke's overbilled Medicare.

Easton Hospital will pay the U.S. government nearly $455,000 after admitting to wrongfully billing Medicare.

That's according to the U.S. Attorney's office, which announced Wednesday that the hospital had agreed to repay the government program $454,866 for wrongful claims submitted between January 2004 and May 2009.

Easton Hospital has a branch in Park Plaza at Sullivan Trail in Forks Township.

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Those claims were for evaluation and management services typically not allowed under Medicare.

"Medicare does not normally allow additional payments for such services performed by a provider on the same day as a procedure, unless the service is significant, separately identifiable, and above and beyond the usual preoperative and postoperative care associated with the procedure," according to a U.S. Attorney news release. "In such cases, an attachment to the claim, known as "Modifier 25," may be submitted to allow the additional payment."

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The news release said Easton Hospital took action to resolve the matter, conducting an internal review and increasing its medical coding training.

The announcment came on the same day the St. Luke's Hospital agreed to repay $1 million in wrongful Medicare claims.


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