Following a Medicare audit by federal investigators, the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis will have to foot the bill for $3.26 million in incorrectly billed services, according to a report released Wednesday from HHS' Office of Inspector General.
Auditors reviewed 255 inpatient and outpatient Medicare claims for payments made between 2012 and 2013, and found 130 incorrect claims resulted in overpayments of $565,286, according to the audit report.
Extrapolating from the sample results OIG estimates the hospital received overpayments of $3.26 million for the audit period.
OIG has recommended the hospital refund Medicare the full $3.26 million in overpayments for incorrectly billed services and strengthen billing controls to ensure future compliance, said the report.
University of Minnesota Medical Center intends to pay the refund in full, according to a statement from Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services, which owns the hospital.
However, hospital officials are not paying up without a fight.
In Fairview Health's statement, it said the hospital is appealing audit findings in 23 of the 130 specified cases, and plans to appeal the government's method for projecting estimated costs from sample claims, according to the Star Tribune.
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