Lakeland (Fla.) Regional Medical Center has agreed to pay $4 million to settle allegations it made improper, non-bona fide Medicaid donations to Polk County, Fla., by assuming and paying certain amounts of the county's financial obligation to other healthcare providers.
A non-bona fide donation is a payment from a private provider to a government entity that is then returned to a provider through a payment by Medicaid, according to a March 3 Justice Department news release.
Because Medicaid services are reimbursed jointly by the federal and state governments, a non-bona fide donation causes federal expenditures to increase without any corresponding increase in state expenditures, according to the release.
The impermissible donations from Lakeland allegedly occurred between October 2014 and September 2015.