by Sarah Jane Tribble
The Cleveland Clinic has agreed to pay $1.74 million to settle allegations from the U.S. Department of Justice that it submitted false claims to Medicare.
The agreement is part of a national anti-fraud effort by the federal government. The U.S. Justice Department alleges that hospitals across the country were charging the government for high cost inpatient services that patients didn't need, wasting taxpayer money and boosting bottom lines.
The Cleveland Clinic is one of more than 130 hospitals nationwide that reached settlements to resolve allegations. The Justice Department says the hospitals were charging for inpatient services on a procedure that is a commonly used to treat certain spinal fractures. In many cases, the government says, the procedure could have been performed in an outpatient setting.
The Clinic released a statement saying at issue was whether the procedures should have been billed as outpatient or inpatient. And it noted that, "all of the surgeries performed at our institution were deemed medically necessary."
Sarah Jane Tribble, 90. 3