Review of Ambulance Charges Claimed By Caritas Norwood Hospital - Fiscal Years 2002 and 2003

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The Hospital was generally in compliance with Medicare regulations for claiming ambulance services costs.  However, we identified internal control weaknesses for completing medical necessity forms and for allocating ambulance costs between Part A and Part B on the cost reports.  We recommended that the Hospital develop written policies and procedures for completing medical necessity forms including regular training of physicians and other appropriate individuals on the Medicare requirements for establishing medical necessity and establish procedures to allocate ambulance costs related to inpatient transfers to Part A inpatient services.  The Hospital agreed with and has adopted corrective actions for each of our recommendations.

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