University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Health System has agreed to pay $241,033 to settle a civil monetary penalty case over a teaching physician’s billing.

According to the settlement, OIG alleged that UCLA Health System submitted claims to Medicare and TRICARE for services that were fraudulent between Jan. 1, 2014, and Feb. 5, 2018. The health system billed for services provided by a physician when allegedly the services were actually provided by “international fellows or Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education residents and domestic fellows, outside [the physician’s] physical presence and without his supervision.”

UCLA Health System disclosed the problem to OIG and was accepted to its Self-Disclosure Protocol in July 2018. The health system didn’t admit liability in the settlement and its attorneys declined to comment.

Teaching physician billing is a long-time risk area and has been at the heart of numerous settlements over the years. That may change a bit in the future because CMS has eased some of the documentation requirements.