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Wednesday, January 24, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Law lets Med Center keep Medicare money
By Steve Bailey Kansan staff writer
A new federal law will enable the University of Kansas Medical Center to recover millions of dollars from Medicare for past costs including nursing education, a Med Center official said.
Eugene Staples, vice chancellor for hospital administration, said that $2.2 million of the $3.2 million the Med Center repaid to Medicare for fiscal 1987 would be returned because of the law, which prohibited Medicare from recovering overpayments after fiscal 1986.
The remaining $1 million, which was for house staff supervision costs, is tied up in appeals, he said.
Staples said the Med Center refunded the $3.2 million to Medicare in August 1989, and then filed a claim with Medicare to get the money back.
"Somewhere down the road we should get the $2.2 million back," he said. "It is just a matter of time and you know what the cost of government to get it back to us."
To claim Medicare payments, hospitals submit to the agency their financial reports showing their total
costs and the percentage of those costs they believe should be covered by Medicare. Medicare then pays the percentage that relates Medicare patient
Since 1987, the Med Center had been billing Medicare for the cost of running the School of Nursing and School of Allied Health, excluding tuition, and claiming them as hospital expenses. Staples said.
A dispute arose in the summer when Medicare said the School of Allied Health and the School of Nursing were run by the University of Maryland Medical Center. But that the Med Center had been filing excessive claims.
A Louisiana case in 1989 prompted Medicare to question whether university hospitals could claim education costs as Medicare benefits, he said.
Medicare then ordered the Med Center to pay back the $3.2 million, or the agency would cut off all financing.
Staples said the Med Center paid back the money in August 1899 in order to keep Medicare payments coming. The new law prevents Medicare from trying to recover those overpayments.
Ed Brennan, associate regional administrator for Medicare, said that the statute did prohibit Medicare from pursuing overpayments, but that it said nothing about returning any money.
"These were costs that the hospital considered appropriate," Brennan said. "We considered them to be inappropriate, but now we can't try to get the money back."
If not for the adoption of the statute, the Med Center might have had to pay back millions of dollars in overpayments for other years as well.
He also said that Medicare should not have to pay those educational expenses because the two schools were run by the University and not by the Med Center.
"We estimate that we would have lost about $8 million," Staples said.
He said that when the money was returned it would be deposited with the state.
LOUISE'S BAR DOWNTOWN
Mon. $100 Well Drinks
Tues. $100 Longnecks
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Sat. $250 Pitchers
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Macintosh Demo Day
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Representatives from Apple, Informix (maker of WINGZ), and MacSource will be available for free demonstrations, as well as advice on service, upgrades, and much more. Come join us!
Today 10 AM - 2 PM Burge Union Level Two 864-5697
THIS SUMMER EARN KU CREDIT ABROAD Summer Institutes 1990
Advanced German in Holzkirchen, West Germany
Intermediate Spanish in Barcelona, Spain
London School of Economics, England
Spanish language and Mexican culture in Guadalajara, Mexico
Intermediate German in Eutin, West Germany
Seven weeks, with time for Bavarian Alps, Munich, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Berchtesgaden, and Oberammergau, plus ten days of group travel along the Rhine River and Romantic road to Dusseldorf, Cologne, Nuremberg, Rothenburg, and Berlin. Earn six to nine hours in German grammar, conversation, literature, drama, theater, history, and culture.
Eight weeks, with two weeks of group travel in Madrid and other cities. Live with a native family for four weeks in Barcelona. Earn up to seven hours undergraduate credit in Spanish grammar, conversation, composition, history, readings, and culture at the Instituto Granes.
Three or six weeks of intensive study in Introductory and Intermediate Micro and Macroeconomics, Political Economy, Development Economics, Economics of the Welfare State, Finance, and European Economics. Live and study in central London near the House of Parliament.
Eight weeks in Mexico's second largest city. Group trips to Oaxaca and the colonial city of Morelia. Earn up to seven hours undergraduate or graduate credit in Spanish grammar, conversation, and literature, Mexican culture, history, and literature.
Six weeks in Eutin, with travel to Mainz, Bad Dreuznach, Marburg, Berlin, and Munich. Live with a German family. Earn six to nine undergraduate credits in German language, culture, conversation, and grammar.
Financial assistance is available to qualified students Deadlines approaching as early as February 1!
Four or eight weeks of study while you live with an Italian family. Weekends and afternoons free for daytrips and excursions. Earn six to ten hours in Italian language and culture. Classes taught by native Italians.
Six weeks, with two weeks of group travel to Picardy, Normandy, and Touraine, then spend four weeks in Paris at the Etoile: Centre de Langue et Vie Francaises. Earn up to six hours undergraduate credit selected from all levels in grammar, reading, composition, conversation, culture, and phonetics.
Four weeks in the French Alps, with travel to Ghent, Bruges,
Brussels, and Paris. Enjoy fine stu-
Six weeks study of ancient literature and theater where it was written and performed originally. Live in the village of Katohi and participate in the staging of a classical play, Hippolytus. Weekend excursions to ancient sites such as Delphi, Ancient Corinth, Athens, Epidaurus, and Olympia. Earn six undergraduate or graduate credits in modern Greek, classical Greek literature, and classical Greek theater.
rench Alps, with travel to Ghent, Bruges,
Brussels, and Paris. Enjoy fine studi-
ios, group and individual proje-
cts, and time for work and
play with students from diffe-
rent cultures. Earn three
hours in Art and Design.
s six weeks in Great Britain including London, York Oxford, Exeter, and Edinburgh. Earn six to nine hours undergraduate credit in British literature, history, and art history.
Faraway places may be closer than you think.
French language and culture in Paris
Italian language and culture in Florence, Italy Art and Design in Peyresq, France
Theater in Greece
Humanities in Great Britain
For applications and more information contact:
Office of Study Abroad 203 Lippincott Hall
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