UCLA Health System fined over banned physician

Federal officials have fined University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Health System $470,000 for allowing an anesthesiologist who was banned from Medicare and other federal programs to treat patients and bill the government for their care. The anesthesiologist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center was excluded from federal programs from April 2009 to November 2013 while working there, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The anesthesiologist had been banned from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs in 2003 after California revoked his medical license in connection with substance abuse problems. State officials reinstated his medical license in 2008, but he wasn't taken off the federal list of excluded providers until December 2013.

UCLA discovered the Medicare exclusion issue and disclosed it to federal officials this year, records show, and last month agreed to pay $470,423 as part of a settlement agreement, The Los Angeles Times reported. The university attributed the problem to human error and software problems.

Source: The Los Angeles Times