Government Intervenes in False Claims Act Case Against New York Hospitals

The government has intervened in a False Claims Act lawsuit filed against hospitals in New York over the hospitals' alleged failure to return Medicaid overpayments within 60 days of identifying them, according to a National Law Review report.

All of the hospitals named as defendants in the lawsuit were providers in a Medicaid managed care network operated by Healthfirst, located in New York City. Due to a computer error on the part of Healthfirst, 900 erroneous claims were submitted to New York Medicaid, which resulted in Medicaid wrongfully paying the hospitals in the managed care network more than $1 million.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's 60-day repayment provision, hospitals are required to return Medicare and Medicaid overpayments within 60 days after the overpayments are identified. However, according to the lawsuit, it took the defendant hospitals more than two years to repay the excess Medicaid funds they received, according to the report.

The lawsuit was originally filed under the qui tam, or whistle-blower provision, of the False Claims Act.

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