The North Shore-LIJ Health System issued the following statement today regarding a $2.95 million settlement announced today by the US Attorney’s Office:

“The North Shore-LIJ Health System is pleased to have reached a $2.95 million settlement resolving a four-year-old investigation by the US Attorney’s Office regarding the manner in which two health system hospitals accounted for certain costs in reports filed with Medicare. While the health system admitted no wrongdoing, it opted to settle the claim rather than engage in protracted litigation and incur substantial attorneys’ fees that would have far exceeded the cost of the agreement we reached with the government.

“The settlement resolves all government claims that North Shore University Hospital and LIJ Medical Center erroneously categorized certain overhead expenses in highly technical cost reports filed with Medicare from 1994 through 2001. The settled claims resulted from the government’s audit of hospital records identifying and categorizing the hospitals’ costs in providing services over a 10-year period. No errors were found in the vast majority of these costs. The government’s claims did not involve bills submitted to Medicare for patient services.

“As a result of this settlement, the government released the hospitals from any and all liability on the claims and has agreed to the dismissal of its complaint with prejudice in the US District Court.”

Contact: Terry Lynam
516-465-2640
tlynam@nshs.edu