Lawsuit Claims Johns Hopkins Favored Out-Of-State Patients Over Locals
BALTIMORE (WJZ)– Anthony C. Campos, a former supervisor in the patient appointments department at Johns Hopkins Health System Corp. is accusing the medical system of prioritizing out-of-state-patients over Maryland residents to increase revenue.
According to our media partners at The Baltimore Sun, a lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S District Court that Campos' department was directed with the task of "filling the plane" with patients from outside of Maryland. The lawsuit says the directive came from the highest ranks at the medical system.
In Maryland, hospitals are required to operate under global budgets assigned to them by the state that limit how much revenue they can make in a year. The budgets were put in place as part of an effort to cut health costs and improve care.
However, these budgets only apply to people who live in Maryland. Any money brought in by treating out-of-state patients is additional revenue for the hospital. The lawsuit says Johns Hopkins is violating a clause in its budget agreement that state hospitals can't deny services to patients for inappropriate financial reasons. The medical system is required to provide care that focuses on the community. The lawsuit says this can't be done if the emphasis is on patients elsewhere. The medical system also hid what it was doing from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Johns Hopkins has released a statement saying "the complaint is without merit. Safe and high quality care for all patients, regardless of where they live, is our number one priority. Our census shows that the majority of our patients are from Maryland and that the number has steadily increased over the past several years."
Campos is asking that the government be awarded damages. He is also asking for Johns Hopkins to be fined under the False Claims Act.
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