Mayo Clinic reaches a settlement in billing error case

For businesses, billing any organization, much less a customer, for services that haven't been performed is clearly not a legal practice. Companies need to be diligent in organizing their invoice statements and payments to ensure that they are not charging for missing services or products. Phoenix business lawyers can help with any legal issues regarding customer or client billing. The Mayo Clinic, however, was not organized enough in their financial concerns to avoid a lawsuit.

The Centers for the Medicare and Medicaid Services alleged that the Mayo Clinic billed the organization for laboratory procedures it did not perform, according to FierceHealthcare. On August 2, the Minnesota's U.S. Attorney's office announced that the medical clinic agreed to a settlement of $1.26 million.

Originally, the federal lawsuit was filed in 2007 because of whistleblower claims. Due to this, the four whistleblowers involved in the case will be paid a total of $229,822. The main issues, according to the Mayo Clinic, dealt with surgical pathology billing errors.

"Mayo Clinic has reached a settlement with the federal government on a billing error issue," The Mayo Clinic said in an issued statement. "While Mayo Clinic corrected the error prior to knowledge of the Department of Justice’s suit and voluntarily refunded $262,975 to the government, Mayo agreed to settle with the DOJ for an additional $1 million because … [it] allows us to best direct our resources to patient care, education and research."

While the Mayo Clinic did do everything it could to fix the original mistake, plaintiffs allege that the error should not have occurred in the first place. Business owners that wish to protect their company in case of a substantial billing error will need to speak to a business attorney in Phoenix.

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