Legislative Audit: University Medical Center Double-Billed Patients, Nurse Misappropriated Drugs

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL) -- A new report from the state's legislative auditor revealed that former University Medical Center overcharged patients by nearly $395,000 for services that were not provided, and an emergency room nurse misappropriated nearly $26,000 in drugs.

"As a result, the hospital inflated the uncompensated care cost for uninsured patients which may cause the hospital to inappropriately receive federal payments through Medicaid," the report, which was released Monday morning, read.

The report stated that any payments received as a result of the overcharging would likely have to be repaid.

According to the report, there were 12 overcharges to uninsured patients totaling $290,319. There were seven overcharges to Medicaid patients totaling $86,017, and one overcharge of $18,647 for a Medicare patient who had supplemental insurance.

The same audit revealed an emergency room nurse misappropriated drugs and charged patients for the drug totaling $25,978 from October 2012 through March 2013, resulting in the inappropriate charging of patients, insurance companies, and federal programs.

The same nurse, who has since been hired by Lafayette General Medical Center, charged the hospital $6,684 in unbilled services dating back to October 2009.

In a response to the audit, Lanette Buie from LSU Health Care Services said the billing errors "were primarily caused by a misunderstanding of several UMC pharmacists, causing some chemotherapy medications to be billed twice. There were also miscellaneous errors which caused a few instances of double billing."

Buie said LSU Health would also seek restitution in the amount of $6,485.49 from the nurse accused of misappropriating drugs.