SALISBURY, Md. (AP) - Federal authorities are investigating an allegation that a private ambulance company knowingly overbilled Medicare on thousands of nonemergency trips.
The Daily Times reports that the investigation stems from a lawsuit filed by a former driver for Hart to Heart Transportation Services who alleges that the company falsified Medicare claims by saying ambulances were necessary for newly-discharged hospital patients.
The lawsuit claims that if patients could sit comfortably or walk - abilities that would likely disqualify Medicare reimbursement - paramedics often would ask hospital staff to have them lie down in bed and would then strap them to stretchers.
The suit claims Peninsula Regional Medical Center’s staff “acquiesced in and facilitated” the questionable transports. The hospital said it is investigating, but believes it conducted itself appropriately.
Hart to Heart denies wrongdoing.
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Information from: The Daily Times of Salisbury, Md., http://www.delmarvanow.com/
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