Review of Bad Debts Reported by Fresenius Medical Care's Facilities Under Medicare's End Stage Renal Disease Program for Calendar Year 1997

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This final audit report points out that Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) allocated $5,980,886 in unallowable costs to 408 facilities claiming reimbursable bad debts in Calendar Year 1997. As a result, reimbursable bad debts claimed by these facilities were overstated by $731,309. In addition to financial adjustments, we recommended that FMC establish additional procedures to exclude from future cost reports the unallowable costs identified by our review. The FMC agreed with our findings and recommendations.

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