Federal prosecutors have announced that Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore has agreed to pay the federal government nearly $800,000 in order to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to health benefits programs between January 2005 and December 2008.
The government alleges that Good Samaritan claimed malnutrition as a secondary diagnosis, throwing off the results of its coding system, and making its patients appear worse than they actually were. In doing this, the federal government claims that the hospital could receive more money from the Health Services Review Commission in reimbursements than it should have.
The settlement states that Good Samaritan was reimbursed for inflated rates that the hospital submitted. Good Samaritan, of course, denies the allegations.