Danbury Hospital Reported Overstated Wage Data Resulting in Medicare Overpayments

Danbury Hospital (the Hospital), located in Danbury, Connecticut, did not always comply with Medicare requirements for reporting wage data in its fiscal year (FY) 2010 Medicare cost report. Specifically, the Hospital reported overstated wage data totaling $4.9 million and 10,000 hours, which affected the numerator and denominator of its wage rate calculation. These errors occurred because the Hospital did not sufficiently review and reconcile the data to ensure that it was accurate, supportable, and in compliance with Medicare regulations. Because of the errors, we estimated that in FY 2014 Medicare overpaid the Hospital approximately $249,000 and overpaid five other hospitals in the same core-based statistical area a total of approximately $741,000.