Oroville Hospital allegedly admitted patients and billed Medicare and Medicaid for more expensive, medically unnecessary inpatient hospital stays, according to a Dec. 12 news release from the Justice Department.
The hospital also allegedly incentivized inpatient admissions by paying bonuses that took into account volume or value of admissions to physicians who were “in a position to influence whether or not patients were admitted to the hospital,” according to the release.
Further, Oroville Hospital allegedly submitted claims to Medicare and Medicaid that included false diagnosis codes for systemic inflammatory response syndrome.