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Hospital Will Pay to Settle U.S. Suit

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Times Staff Writer

The Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne has agreed to pay the government $2 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the hospital of Medicare fraud, the U.S. attorney’s office announced Tuesday.

The lawsuit accused the hospital of billing Medicare for more expensive treatments than those actually performed.

The hospital billed Medicare for treating severe respiratory infections when, in fact, the treatments were for pneumonia, according to the suit. The difference in reimbursement between the two averages $2,500 per case, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Donna Maizel.

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The suit was originally filed in 1996 on behalf of the government by Health Outcomes Technologies Inc., a software company based in Doylestown, Pa. The company will receive $280,000 from the settlement under a federal law that allows whistle-blowers to receive part of the reimbursement in fraud cases.

In a statement, Joan Bero, president of the hospital, said that incorrect bills had been submitted by the hospital under previous management.

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