VENTURA COUNTY: Mental Health System Meets Terms of Medicare Overbilling Settlement

      Ventura County's beleaguered mental health system is back in complete compliance with federal and state billing laws, the Ventura County Star reports. Over the past six months, the county has shelled out $1 million to meet conditions imposed by last year's $15.3 million Medicare overbilling settlement with the federal government. In addition to five years of repayments, the county entered into a "Corporate Integrity Agreement," under which county outpatient and inpatient mental health clinics must participate in regular internal audits and all employees must receive annual training on Medicare regulations. The biggest expense has been the legal costs involved in negotiating and implementing the agreement; the county paid $500,000 in legal fees. The agreement also ordered the Ventura County Health Care Agency to arrange a confidential hotline for employees to report billing or other problems. According to Michael Powers, compliance officer and legal counsel for the agency, the new motto of the mental health care system is: "[I]f there's a problem, let's find it and fix it." Officials estimate that the cost of compliance with the integrity agreement in subsequent years should total $750,000 or less (Koehler, 5/3).