Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

A hospitalist company that works with thousands of facilities is facing federal charges that its clinicians routinely overbilled Medicare and Medicaid, authorities recently announced.

In 2009, a whistleblower alleged that California-based IPC The Hospitalist Company pressured its clinicians to “upcode” — that is, bill government health plans for more expensive services than were provided. 

“IPC hospitalists have routinely and systematically submitted upcoded claims for payment to the United States,” federal authorities allege.