Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente has agreed to pay nearly $6.4 million to resolve allegations that Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington submitted invalid diagnoses to Medicare for Medicare Advantage members, according to the Department of Justice.
The settlement resolves allegations that Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington, formerly Group Health Cooperative, submitted diagnoses to Medicare that were not supported by the beneficiaries' medical records to inflate payments it received.
The allegations were originally brought under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act by a former employee of the health plan.
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