By Timothy Kudo
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The University of California will pay $22.5 million to federal
health care programs as part of a settlement with the U.S.
Department of Justice over disputed billing practices.
The university came under audit after whistleblowers reported
that UC Medical Centers billed Medicare, Medi-Cal and other
government-funded health insurances for treatment done by residents
rather than physicians or faculty, according to the U.S.
attorney’s office.
An undisclosed portion of the fee will come from UCLA
coffers.
“They said to us, “˜you have to refund the money to
Medicare,'” said UC spokesman Chuck McFadden. “We
said, “˜nonsense, we don’t owe you a
cent.'”
A spokesman for the DOJ declined to comment.
The settlement comes after more than a year of negotiations
between the UC and federal officials.
The $22.5 million sum amounts to three percent of the total
physician earnings systemwide. Out of the $22.5 million,
UCLA’s share is less than five percent of the campus’
physician income.
The financing of the fee will come from the five campuses with
medical centers, including UCLA, though that fee has yet to be
determined, McFadden said.
He added that the $22.5 million was “not going to affect
UC much.”
UC’s hospitals as a group were one of 40 institutions
audited nation-wide for such billing practices, according to
McFadden.
In 1996, UC issued new systemwide guidelines to ensure that
faculty were aware of new regulations issued by the Health Care
Financing Administration on Medicare billing.
Those changes made certain that a teaching physician was
required for certain services provided by residents.
UC is required to make payments within a month.
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.