Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Urges HHS To Be 'More Aggressive' In Fighting Overpayments In Medicare, Medicaid
NPR/Center For Public Integrity: White House Takes Aim At Medicare And Medicaid Billing Errors
White House budget director Shaun Donovan called for a "more aggressive strategy" to thwart improper government payments to doctors, hospitals and insurance companies in a previously undisclosed letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell earlier this year. Government health care programs covering millions of Americans waste billions of tax dollars every year through these improper payments, Donovan said in the Feb. 26, 2015 letter. (Schulte, 9/3)
The Charlotte Observer: Lawsuit: Carolina Hospitals Cheated Medicare Out Of Millions
A newly unsealed lawsuit alleges that Carolinas Medical Center and N.C. Baptist Hospital have fraudulently obtained tens of millions of dollars from Medicare and Medicaid through an arrangement that artificially inflated their expenses. The federal suit, filed by Forsyth County whistleblower Joe Vincoli, contends that the two hospitals overstated their costs – and thereby extracted more money from Medicare – by using a company that they own to provide health benefits to their employees. (Alexander, 9/2)
