2 Health Firms Settle Suit for $2.9 Million
From Times Staff Reports
Mercy Health Care Systems and its parent, Catholic Health Care West, agreed Monday to pay $2.9 million to settle a suit that alleged they knowingly kept overpayments inadvertently made by Medicare.
The suit said that in March 1993, Mercy received two written notifications from its Medicare contractor. The first said there was an underpayment of $944,900 by Mercy for the interim payments made to it in 1992. The second said there was an overpayment of $238,100 due to Mercy for the interim payments made in the first quarter of 1993.
Instead of collecting the difference of $706,800, the Medicare contractor inadvertently paid Mercy $706,800 in late March 1993.
