The Peninsula Regional Medical Center and the ambulance firm Hart to Hart are now under investigation for Medicare fraud.
A lawsuit has accused PRMC of assisting the ambulance company in a scheme involving questionable transports.
The Salisbury Daily Times reports that the federal prosecutor’s office has not joined the lawsuit telling the case’s arbiter U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett that it needs more time to conduct its investigation.
The paper reports that the prosecutor’s office declined to comment.
The allegations include the claim that the ambulance company would ask hospital staff to have the patients lie down in bed so that the paramedics could strap the patients into the stretcher.
In addition, there is a claim that if the patients refused to be taken on a stretcher the ambulance company would falsely report that the patients could not stand or could only walk with maximum assistance.
PRMC would then allegedly absorb the cost through Medicare.
The hospital told the paper that it is aware of all the allegations but believes it acted properly at all times but is reviewing the charges.
Hart to Hart denies all charges.
