Ambulance, Hospital to Pay $1.4M in Unneeded Transport Case

A Scarborough-based ambulance provider has settled with the U.S. Attorney's Office for $825,000 over allegations that it billed Medicaid for unnecessary ambulance rides.

In a separate settlement, Portland-Based Maine Medical Center will pay $600,000.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says that starting in 2007, North East improperly billed Medicare to transport patients who'd been discharged, in ambulances and that ambulance transport wasn't medically needed for those patients.

It also alleges that Maine Medical Center provided North East with statements that were incomplete or inaccurate, which North East used to bill Medicaid.

Read more: http://mainepublic.org/post/ambulance-hospital-pay-14m-unneeded-transport-case