As a hospital compliance officer and physician services director, Elin Baklid-Kunz found evidence of Medicare billing abuses at Halifax Health, as did other officials there, she said in an interview. But hospital leaders did nothing to fix the problems after she and others reported them, she said.
One internal report at the Daytona Beach, Fla., hospital found 60% of patients in a sample of chest-pain patients had been admitted inappropriately. One neurosurgeon claimed to have provided a volume of patient care more than four times the national average. Two surgeons were receiving bonuses topping $1 million.