Tennessee nursing home improperly billed Medicaid nearly $52K, audit finds

Kelly Gooch -

The Bledsoe County Nursing Home in Pikeville, Tenn., will make corrections after state auditors found improper Medicaid billing, according to the Times Free Press.

The audit found between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2018, the nursing home improperly billed Medicaid $51,964.69 for 332 resident leave days while operating at less than 85 percent capacity, the newspaper reported, citing a Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Medicaid Examination. State auditors said Bledsoe also inappropriately billed nearly 80 patients more than $5,800 combined for Medicaid-covered services such as haircuts and shampoos between July 1, 2014, and April 8, 2019.

The nursing home concurred with the audit's findings. Bledsoe officials said the nursing home will file corrected claims for the therapeutic leave days and won't charge Medicaid residents for covered services such as basic haircuts and shampoos "unless the resident has requested that the beautician perform these services for them."

"The facility has developed a form that residents or their representatives will sign if they request and prefer to have beautician services," they added.

Access the full audit report here.

 

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