Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has agreed to refund almost $1.2 million in Medicare funds to the government after an audit found billing errors.
According to a report from the HHS Office of Inspector General, the 1,046-bed Mass General, one of the primary institutions within Boston-based Partners HealthCare, only complied with Medicare billing requirements on 23 percent of sampled claims. The OIG looked at 590 inpatient and outpatient bills issued during 2010 and 2011.
More than $720,000 of the overpayments stemmed from inpatient billing errors. For example, the OIG found Mass General incorrectly billed Medicare for inpatient services without a valid physician order. Most of the errors on the outpatient side were due to incorrect billing for dental services or erroneous codes.
OIG officials said Mass General must repay all Medicare overpayments and strengthen its Medicare billing compliance protocols. Sally Mason Boemer, senior vice president for finance at Mass General, wrote a letter to the agency agreeing with the findings.
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