SIMI VALLEY HOSPITAL SETTLES MEDICARE CASE.Byline: Daily News SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. - Simi Valley Hospital Simi Valley Hospital (SVH) is a Seventh-day Adventist hospital located located in Simi Valley, California. SVH is a member of Adventist Health. New Construction Simi Valley Hospital is in the process of building a new wing to the hospital. and Health Care Services paid nearly $3.7 million to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare, officials said. Without admitting or denying wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do , the hospital agreed to pay
the settlement to the federal government to resolve a federal fraud
investigation into the hospital's billing practices from 1993 to
1998.
The hospital was accused of submitting claims for more intensive or sophisticated levels of service than what had been actually documented in patient records - a practice known as ``upcoding.'' The Department of Health and Human Services Noun 1. Department of Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Health and Human Services, HHS , which oversees the Medicare program, launched a nationwide initiative in 2000 to review compliance with pneumonia billing practices. The review concluded there was excessive Medicare reimbursement by classifying pneumonia cases as ``severe respiratory infections,'' a more serious form of pneumonia than was actually treated, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Department of Justice. The government investigation showed that the questionable billing extended beyond the hospital's classification of pneumonia cases. |
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