The HHS Office of Inspector General has asked two large hospitals on the East Coast to refund Medicare dollars associated with inaccurate claims related to a rare form of malnutrition.
OIG officials said Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City both submitted incorrect claims for kwashiorkor. Kwashiorkor is a form of severe protein malnutrition that mostly affects children in famine-stricken areas and developing countries.
Morristown is expected to repay $374,603 tied to claims from 2010 to 2012. Mount Sinai will have to refund far less: $11,308. Morristown officials fully agreed with the OIG's findings, while Mount Sinai officials agreed with most.
The OIG has now nailed nine hospitals for inappropriate kwashiorkor billing this year, according to an analysis of OIG audits. The combined overpayments for those nine cases total $1.2 million.
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