Supreme Court dashes hospitals' hopes for recovering underpayments

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).

Reuters: U.S. Top Court Rejects Hospitals' Medicare Claims Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday a bid by a group of 18 hospitals to reopen a specialized group of Medicare reimbursement claims that are up to 25 years old. The hospitals, which are entitled to extra compensation for treating a large number of low-income patients, claimed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services miscalculated those payments between 1987 and 1994 (Baynes, 1/22).