Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va., will have to repay $327,180 in Medicare funds to the government after an audit found the hospital did not comply with several billing requirements, according to a report from the HHS Office of Inspector General.
The OIG looked at 195 inpatient and outpatient claims at the 437-bed hospital from 2009 through 2011. The audit found Mary Washington Hospital had errors on 53 of the claims. Most errors were due to billing Medicare separately for related discharges and readmissions within the same day, incorrect diagnosis-related group codes and billing services as inpatient when they should've been billed as outpatient or observation.
Mary Washington Hospital officials said they mostly agreed with the OIG's findings and will improve their Medicare billing guidelines. The hospital said it has submitted corrected claims for medical device billing errors, and it received an unspecified credit.
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