Audit Shows Sanford Health Owes Medicare $65,000

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — An audit shows that Sanford Health's flagship hospital in North Dakota owes the federal government $65,000 for overbilling Medicare.

Fargo Sanford Medical Center President Dennis Millirons tells the Argus Leader the amount is an "infinitesimal" mistake.

Inspectors with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reviewed 252 inpatient and outpatient claims at the Fargo hospital and found 26 billing errors for Medicare patients. Two of the cases were in 2009 and the other 24 in 2010 and 2011.

The audit says the hospital "did not have adequate controls" to prevent overbilling.

Millirons says the mistakes are a tiny fraction of business volume and need to be understood in that context. He says the Fargo hospital had 148,000 Medicare claims in 2010 and 2011 totaling $222 million.

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