HHS OIG: Sarasota Memorial Hospital Medicare Overpayments Total $12.1 Million

HHS OIG Reports & Publications

Filed February 25th, 2026

Detected February 26th, 2026

Summary

The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that Sarasota Memorial Hospital received at least $12.1 million in Medicare overpayments between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021. The OIG recommended the hospital refund the overpaid amount and implement additional training.

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What changed

The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a report (A-04-23-08098) detailing that Sarasota Memorial Hospital received an estimated $12.1 million in net Medicare overpayments during the audit period of January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2021. While the hospital complied with billing requirements for 74% of the reviewed claims, errors in the remaining 26% led to the significant overestimation, primarily due to a failure to consistently follow internal policies and procedures for Medicare billing.

The OIG recommends that Sarasota Memorial Hospital refund the estimated $12.1 million to the Federal government. Additionally, the hospital is advised to conduct internal audits for claims post-audit period based on identified risks and provide further training on Medicare billing requirements. The hospital has disagreed with most of the findings and recommendations, indicating a potential for further dispute or negotiation regarding the repayment and corrective actions.

What to do next

Review OIG report A-04-23-08098 for detailed findings and recommendations.
Assess internal Medicare billing policies and procedures for compliance gaps identified in the report.
Consider conducting internal audits for claims post-audit period based on identified risks.

Penalties

The OIG recommended the Hospital refund $12.1 million in estimated net overpayments to the Federal government.

Source document (simplified)

Sarasota Memorial Hospital Received At Least $12.1 Million in Medicare Overpayments

Issued on

02/25/2026

| Posted on

02/26/2026

| Report number: A-04-23-08098

Report Materials

Why OIG Did This Audit

For calendar year 2021, Medicare paid hospitals $182 billion, which represents 46 percent of all fee-for-service payments; accordingly, it is important that hospital payments comply with requirements.
This audit is part of a series of audits examining hospitals with a high volume of claims previously identified as high-risk for noncompliance.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital (the Hospital) was selected because it submitted a substantial number of potentially high-risk claims to Medicare.

What OIG Found

The Hospital complied with Medicare billing requirements for 74 of the 100 inpatient and outpatient claims we reviewed. However, the Hospital did not fully comply with Medicare billing requirements for the remaining 26 claims, resulting in net overpayments of $272,364 from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2021 (audit period).
On the basis of our sample results, we estimated that the Hospital received net overpayments of at least $12.1 million for the audit period.
These errors occurred primarily because the Hospital did not always follow its written policies and procedures to prevent the incorrect billing of Medicare claims within the selected risk areas that contained errors.

What OIG Recommends

We recommend that the Hospital refund to the Federal government the $12.1 million in estimated net overpayments, consider conducting internal audits for claims after our audit period based on the risks identified by this audit, and provide additional training regarding Medicare billing requirements. Our complete recommendations are found in the audit report.

The Hospital disagreed with most of our findings and all our recommendations.

Report Type Audit HHS Agencies Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Issue Areas Hospitals Target Groups Elderly Financial Groups Medicare A