Catholic Healthcare West and Sutter Health Association have paid a combined $2.3 million to resolve allegations that their hospitals overbilled Medicare for two specific medical procedures, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
San Francisco-based CHW, a 36-hospital system, has paid $875,564. Sutter, a 25-hospital system based in Sacramento, Calif., has paid roughly $1.43 million. The systems allegedly overcharged for infusion therapy and lithotripsy services, the latter of which is a medical procedure that involves shock waves to break up stones in the kidney, bladder or ureter.
CHW and Sutter allegedly duplicated the charges for infusion therapy; unbundled packaged infusion therapy services by charging for each individual procedure when it should have been billed as a group; and duplicated the billing of lithotripsy services under separate revenue codes.
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