The court's unanimous ruling rejected the arguments advanced by 18 hospitals that sought to reopen a set of Medicare claims that were more than 25 years old.
Modern Healthcare: High Court Quashes Hospitals' Hopes Of Recouping Underpayments
In a unanimous, decision the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed hospitals' and health systems' hopes of recouping millions in Medicare underpayments made between 1987 and 1994. Providers had asked the high court to give them the same extra time to find underpayments in Medicare reimbursement that the government gave its outside contractors to find overpayments. The ruling rejected the equity argument, noting the dozen or so private companies that manage Medicare claims have an extremely difficult job in looking for errors among claims from thousands of U.S. hospitals, while hospitals, in contrast, have only their own claims to worry about (Carlson, 1/22).