Hospitals agree to pay $10.1 million in settlement

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A group of Florida hospitals has agreed to pay the federal government $10.1 million to settle an investigation into allegations that it overbilled for cardiac procedures for Medicare patients.

The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday that Morton Plant Mease Health Care Inc. and its affiliated hospitals agreed to the settlement. The group of hospitals is based in the Tampa Bay region.

Officials allege that between July 2006 and July 2008, Morton Plant improperly billed for certain procedures as inpatient care when those services should have been billed as less costly outpatient care.

The settlement is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing. It allows the hospitals to avoid "protracted litigation," the hospital system said in a statement on Wednesday.