University Hospital, the 535-bed flagship facility of Salt Lake City-based University of Utah Health Care, will have to repay $256,259 to the government after a compliance review found 78 Medicare claims were incorrectly billed.
According to an audit from the HHS Office of Inspector General, University Hospital complied with 165 of 243 sample inpatient and outpatient claims from 2009 and 2010. The erroneous claims, many on the outpatient side, had incorrect codes, which the University of Utah said was mostly due to human error.
In addition to refunding the money, the OIG recommended University Hospital strengthen its compliance with Medicare billing. Brian Watts, director of billing compliance at University of Utah Health Care, wrote a letter agreeing with the OIG's assessment and recommendations.
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