KY hospitals to pay nearly $9M in Medicare fraud settlement

Baptist Healthcare System and Hardin Memorial Hospital have agreed to pay nearly $9 million to resolve claims that they improperly billed Medicare, the U.S. Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday. The government's claims involved alleged overbilling at five hospitals owned by Baptist Healthcare, including Baptist Hospital East in Louisville and Baptist Hospital Northeast in La Grange. Under the settlement, Baptist Healthcare System agreed to pay $5,785,000, and Hardin Memorial, which is managed by Baptist Healthcare, agreed to pay $3,115,000, according to a news release issued by the U.S. attorney's office. The government claimed that Baptist Healthcare System and the Hardin hospital improperly billed Medicare by submitting claims for a number of inappropriate hospital billing codes for certain serious conditions.