Graduate Medical Education for Dental Residents Claimed by Ohio State University Hospital for Fiscal Years 2000 Through 2002

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Our objective was to determine whether Ohio State University Hospital (the Hospital) included the appropriate number of dental residents in its full-time equivalent (FTE) counts when computing Medicare graduate medical education (GME) payments for fiscal years (FYs) 2000 through 2002.  The Hospital inappropriately included a total of 75.04 direct GME FTEs and 92.29 indirect GME FTEs in the counts for FYs 2000 through 2002 without incurring all of the costs of training dental residents in nonhospital sites for those years.  As a result, the Hospital overstated its direct and indirect GME claims by a total of $3.5 million for FYs 2000 through 2002. 

We recommended:  that the Hospital file an amended cost report that will result in a refund of $3,524,633; that the Hospital establish and follow written procedures to ensure that the FTE counts for residents in nonhospital settings include only those FTEs for which the Hospital has incurred all or substantially all of the training costs; and that the Hospital determine whether errors similar to those identified in our review occurred in Medicare cost reports after FY 2002 and refund any overpayments.  The Hospital generally disagreed with our findings and recommendations.