Arkansas hospital returns $8.8 million to federal government

An Arkansas hospital that received $8.8 million in federal money during the pandemic has returned the payment after administrators realized a mistake had been made.

The federal government has been distributing funds to health care facilities that have been hit hard by the pandemic, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

Scott Barrilleaux, chief executive at Monticello’s Drew Memorial Hospital, said officials did not expect to receive the deposit earlier this month. The hospital had already received a $3.8 million payment for being a rural facility.

“I got to work the next day, and there was another big payment in our account,” Barrilleaux said.

Barrilleaux figured out the mix up came from the data the hospital was supposed to give the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Administrators submitted figures including “probable” and confirmed coronavirus cases, he noted.

The mistake qualified providers for a share of $12 billion in targeted payments for facilities struggling in the pandemic.

A department spokeswoman said in an email this week that the department had been clear that hospitals should submit information on confirmed coronavirus admissions from Jan. 1 to April 10.

In response to a question about how the department plans to verify case numbers at facilities, the spokeswoman said that providers had to agree to certain terms to accept the payment, and they could lose some or all of the money if they violated that agreement.

Policy experts are concerned about how the distribution of payment is tracked. The inspector general overseeing the department last week announced audits of it first payouts to medical providers.