Reports from the HHS' Office of Inspector General have found two major hospitals in Kansas had inpatient billing errors leading to Medicare overpayments.
In 2009 and 2010, the University of Kansas Hospital, a 606-bed hospital in Kansas City, reportedly had several claims, most of which were on the inpatient side, that did not follow Medicare's billing protocol. The OIG said the University of Kansas Hospital will have to repay $254,411 associated with the overpayments.
Also in 2009 and 2010, the OIG said Via Christi Hospital's two primary campuses, which include 759 beds in Wichita, erroneously billed Medicare $170,440. Like the University of Kansas Hospital, most of Via Christi's errors were due to inpatient claims that should have been billed as outpatient or observation, the OIG said.
Both hospitals only partially agreed with the OIG's audit. University of Kansas Hospital officials said they will repay $175,653 of their recommended total, but they contested the findings on 15 inpatient claims, saying the OIG did not consider the "extenuating circumstances" those patients had. Via Christi officials said they would refund about half of the OIG's recommended total, but the remaining billed claims were justified as inpatient.
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