Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, N.D., has refunded $64,526 to Medicare due to erroneous inpatient and outpatient claims, according to a report from the HHS Office of Inspector General.
The OIG looked at claims from the 583-bed hospital from 2010 and 2011. Most of the errors came on the inpatient side, as the agency found Sanford submitted claims to Medicare with incorrect diagnosis-related codes and stays that should have been billed as outpatient or observation, among other errors. Sanford attributed the errors to coders misinterpreting clinical documentation and staff misunderstanding Medicare's inpatient and outpatient criteria.
Sanford has already paid back the money to CMS and said it has taken "corrective actions" to ensure compliance in the future.
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