Clinical Laboratory Agrees to Pay Kentucky $1.5 Million for Medicaid Overbilling
Laboratory Corp. of America, one of the "nation's largest private clinical laboratories," has agreed to pay Kentucky $1.5 million to settle allegations that it improperly billed the state's Medicaid program, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. An investigation by the state Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Division and the Cabinet for Health Services' Department of Medicaid Services determined that beginning in 1995, LabCorp engaged in "unbundling" of its lab work by "submitt[ing] separate claims for individual tests that should have been billed as a group of tests," boosting its Medicaid reimbursements. In addition, a computer problem at LabCorp resulted in Medicaid "routinely" being billed for 10 lab tests when only one was performed. As part of the settlement, LabCorp will refund the overpayments and correct its billing practices. In the past week, Kentucky Attorney General Ben Chandler has announced that the Medicaid Fraud Division "has recovered more than $2.7 million in restitution, fines and penalties for Medicaid violations" (Lexington Herald-Leader, 9/6). For further information on state health policy in Kentucky, visit State Health Facts Online.
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