Associated Press
BEATTYVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky county has agreed to pay nearly $254,000 to the federal government to settle a lawsuit alleging its ambulance service submitted more than 1,000 fake reimbursement claims to Medicare and Medicaid.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Thursday that the federal government sued Lee County and related agencies last year. It said the county-owned ambulance service forged reports to make patients seem sicker than they were so ambulance runs would qualify for federal reimbursement.
Together with earlier settlements reached with an official from the ambulance service and the company that handled its billing, U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan Jr. says the government will recoup a total of $515,000 from the scheme.
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Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com