FBI agents have interviewed a former patient about her 2010 stay at Redding, Calif.-based Shasta Medical Center, a Prime facility that billed Medicare for treating the patients' kwashiorkor — a severe form of malnutrition — according to a report from investigative news outlet California Watch.
Darlene Courtois was also interviewed about a reported incident in which Shasta officials shared Ms. Courtois' medical record with the staff of a local newspaper.
Ms. Courtois' daughter said her mother explained to the agents that she was hospitalized for kidney failure, not malnutrition. She also told agents she received no treatment for kwashiorkor, according to the report. The condition is often prevalent among victims of famines. It would have doubled the Medicare reimbursement Shasta would have otherwise received for Ms. Courtois' treatment.
Prime has denied wrongdoing and maintains the Medicare billings are legal and proper.
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Darlene Courtois was also interviewed about a reported incident in which Shasta officials shared Ms. Courtois' medical record with the staff of a local newspaper.
Ms. Courtois' daughter said her mother explained to the agents that she was hospitalized for kidney failure, not malnutrition. She also told agents she received no treatment for kwashiorkor, according to the report. The condition is often prevalent among victims of famines. It would have doubled the Medicare reimbursement Shasta would have otherwise received for Ms. Courtois' treatment.
Prime has denied wrongdoing and maintains the Medicare billings are legal and proper.
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