NJ.com published the following article on 4/03/2014. To read the full article, click here.

Federal report: N.J. overbilled Medicaid by $22M in 2007, including $19M to Jersey City hospital

Terrence T. McDonald | April 3, 2014

New Jersey health officials in 2007 overbilled Medicaid by $22 million in charity care payments that they gave to four hospitals serving low-income or uninsured patients, including $19 million to the Jersey City Medical Center, according to a new federal audit report.

JCMC, a Downtown Jersey City hospital that recently joined the Barnabas Health system, should only have been paid $55 million in charity care in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, but the state authorized $38.8 million in what the report calls “overpayments” to the program.

$19 million of that came from the federal government, which the report says should be reimbursed. The alleged overpayments include $3 million the state gave to three hospitals in Newark, Perth Amboy and Trenton, according to the report.

State health officials object to the findings. Valerie Harr, who directs the state’s Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, wrote in a Nov. 22, 2013 letter to a federal auditor that auditors who reviewed data while compiling the report relied on incorrect data.

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