EDITORIAL: Time to take a stand

The University must claimThe University must claimresponsibility of MedicareThe University must claimresponsibility of Medicareoverbilling at HUP - andThe University must claimresponsibility of Medicareoverbilling at HUP - andshould take action now toThe University must claimresponsibility of Medicareoverbilling at HUP - andshould take action now toensure that this unfortunateThe University must claimresponsibility of Medicareoverbilling at HUP - andshould take action now toensure that this unfortunatesituation does not occur again.The University must claimresponsibility of Medicareoverbilling at HUP - andshould take action now toensure that this unfortunatesituation does not occur again.______________________________ The fines resulted from a government audit, which concluded that the 600 physicians who provide patient care through CPUP filed more than $10 million in false Medicare claims between 1989 and 1994. These physicians work in 19 different departments at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- and they are members of the Medical School faculty, charged with instructing the next generation of doctors. Medical Center and Health System Chief Executive Officer William Kelley, who is also dean of the Medical School, denied any wrongdoing on the part of CPUP. Well, if no one broke the rules, why agree to pay what Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Hutchinson called the largest-ever fine for this type of violation? In a letter, Kelley said the settlement "allows [the University] to avoid long and costly litigation, and to focus on its primary mission of education, research and patient care." But Kelley's faculty members were the ones who allegedly billed Uncle Sam for care actually provided by residents, billed in-patient services at the highest level of the billing code without specifying the exact services rendered and provided "inadequate documentation" for some of the bills they submitted. A boss who does not behave in an honest, ethical manner will soon find himself surrounded by employees who are only too willing to follow his corrupt example. And if allowed to proceed unchecked, corruption will quickly seep out of the self-contained cell in which it originates. It's a fact that CPUP's physician professors have been accused of major improprieties. Now it's time for a public rebuke of the CPUP doctors -- and their leader -- from the powers that be here at Penn. Hopefully, those in charge will assign responsibility for this matter before another month elapses, and it fades from the community's consciousness again.