Planned Parenthood has agreed to pay $345,000 of the $629,143 sought by the State of Washington for the organization's collection of undue payments from Medicaid.
-- From "Washington State Medicaid, Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest settle 2009 audit findings" press release by Washington State Department of Social and Health Services 10/29/10
Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest and the State of Washington have settled a 2009 audit that said the organization used incorrect codes and provided insufficient documentation for some claims billed to the Medicaid program.
The Medicaid audit settlement calls for a $345,000 payment by Planned Parenthood to the state. The original audit finding estimated the improper payments at $629,143 over a three-year period.
Those findings were based on 333 procedures performed from March 15, 2004, to Feb. 26, 2007. The Spokane-based family planning organization received more than $7.6 million in payments from Medicaid over that period.
Planned Parenthood appealed the audit findings when they were finalized last year, and the settlement occurred before any hearing took place. The settlement was a compromise without any admission of incorrect billing, documentation or payment.
Medicaid is a state-federal health care coverage that pays the medical bills of low-income residents of Washington state.
CLICK HERE for the press release posting.
From "Planned Parenthood Abortion Business Settles Medicaid Fraud Case" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com 10/30/10
The audit by sate officials found Planned Parenthood was routinely overbilling Medicaid for abortions as well as contraception and family planning services.
According to the audit, state health officials found Planned Parenthood of Spokane was “unbundling” abortion claims and falsely billing for doctor visits when customers were picking up prescriptions.
Mary Emanuel, who runs the web site Abortion in Washington, obtained copies of the audit documents from the Department of Social and Health Services.
“The audit did not get into the question of whether the overbilling was part of a systematic fraud scheme, but it also was clear that if this practice continued PPS would lose its Medicaid billing privileges,” she wrote last year.
The Washington state case of overbilling is not an isolated one as overbilling problems also extended to Planned Parenthood centers in New Jersey [and California, for example].
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
