The federal government is investigating NYU Langone over Medicare payments it received to cover indirect medical education expenses, according to a disclosure in the health system's financial statements.
NYU Langone said that it received a subpoena in January from HHS' Office of the Inspector General that asked for information related to its Medicare cost reports submitted from 2010 to 2019.
The investigation is focused on "possible false or otherwise improper claims" that it submitted for payment.
The Office of the Inspector General is asking for data and documents used to calculate how much money the health system should receive for indirect medical education expenses. The indirect portion supports teaching hospitals that train physicians and tend to have higher costs.
The amount they receive factors in the number of a hospital's full-time medical residents and its number of beds, according to the National Academy of Medicine. The calculation is included in hospitals' Medicare cost reports.
"The investigation is at a preliminary phase, and no demand for repayment has been received," NYU Langone wrote in its financial statements for the three months ending Nov. 30, which were published late last month. "NYULH cannot predict the outcome of this matter."
A spokeswoman for NYU Langone declined to comment beyond the disclosure.
A spokesman for the Office of the Inspector General declined to comment.
The language used in the disclosure indicates that the Office of the Inspector General is targeting NYU Langone and not simply conducting a broad review of indirect medical education expenses, said Brian McGovern, a partner at law firm Crowell Moring in Manhattan and a former New York assistant attorney general.
"If NYU Langone made the disclosure, it determined that anyone reviewing the financial statements would believe it to be material," McGovern said.
"NYU Langone receives federal subpoena over Medicare payments" originally appeared in Crain's New York Business.