Johns Hopkins Bayview Settles False Claims Complaint

Tags: False Claims Act | Johns Hopkins Bayview | Maryland

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Md., has agreed to pay $2.75 million to the United States Government to settle allegations that the hospital submitted false claims to federal healthcare programs, according to a news release from the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to the settlement, Bayview submitted fraudulent claims to federal health insurance programs between July 1, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2007, and was reimbursed at an inflated rate based on these claims.

Two coding employees at Bayview filed a lawsuit under the False Claims Act and alleged that they were advised to increase reimbursement by "increasing the secondary diagnoses recorded for certain patients," according to the release. The claims included malnutrition and acute respiratory failure, conditions which were not diagnosed or treated while the patients were at the hospital. The two employees will receive $550,000 from the total settlement.

Bayview denies the allegations, according to the release.

Read the release about the Johns Hopkins Bayview False Claims settlement.