Health company to pay $270M over improper billing practices

[Steel]

https://apnews.com/b971779e9a8a41e7b2e888a0c74551e7/Health-company-to-pay-$270M-over-improper-billing-practices

In one instance, HealthCare Partners sent out improper guidance advising its physicians to use an improper diagnosis code for a particular spinal condition that yielded increased reimbursement.

The settlement also resolves allegations made by a whistleblower that HealthCare Partners engaged in so-called “one-way” chart reviews in which it scoured its patients’ medical records for diagnoses its providers may have failed to record. The company then submitted these “missed” diagnoses to be used in obtaining increased Medicare payments, prosecutors said.

At the same time, officials said, the firm ignored inaccurate diagnosis codes that should have been deleted and that would have decreased Medicare reimbursement.
No beating around the bush on this one, fuck these people.