When the residents of whatever condo opens on the site of Long Island College Hospital move in, they’ll at least have a comprehensive epitaph to read about the storied institution that preceded them. But when ambulances are replaced with Fresh Direct trucks and they make their first delivery to the One Percenter living in the penthouse, would any of those responsible for the misdeeds detailed by Mary Frost in the Brooklyn Eagle been made to pay the price?
Here’s the set up to her piece. We suggest you read all of it here.
Brooklyn Eagle: Documents show that after taking over LICH in May 2011, SUNY Downstate’s failure to file standard paperwork with insurance companies cost LICH at least $106 million — and likely more.
The process SUNY never carried out is called credentialing. Insurance companies didn’t pay for treating patients at LICH because SUNY never credentialed the LICH doctors under SUNY’s auspices with the insurance companies.
According to hospital administrators and billing companies, carrying out the credentialing process with insurance companies is one of the most basic steps to running any medical practice.
“Credentialing is one of the most important pieces to ensuring hospital revenue remains consistent. Insurance companies only allow doctors to participate if they’re properly credentialed,” a source that does business with SUNY told the Brooklyn Eagle. The company asked not to be identified in this story.
“In May 2011, when SUNY took over, they did not take the time to make sure prior to the [takeover] that the doctors were properly credentialed with the entity SUNY Downstate Medical Center at LICH. They had to be credentialed under SUNY’s umbrella — i.e., tax ID, NPI and the proper services and remit addresses,” the source said.
A Brooklyn physician who was a section chief at LICH for years told the Eagle, “I know for a fact there was never any credentialing.”
“You stand or fall by how good you are at collecting. If you’re not paying attention, you’re going to go broke in a hurry,” he said.
