Judge: Third-Party Suit Over Medicare Payments Doesn't Fall Under Medicare Act

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - A Mississippi federal judge on Feb. 12 denied a motion to dismiss a breach of contract action between a hospital and a data collection firm over the hospital's loss of Medicare payments from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for failure to report patient surveys to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The judge concluded that the action is merely a breach of contract action and is not dependent upon the hospital seeking administrative remedies through HHS (South Central Regional Medical Center v. Press Ganey Associates Inc., No. 2:12cv103, S.D. Miss., Hattiesburg Div.; 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18522).Full story on lexis.com