{
  "id": "1999-march-medicare-milked",
  "slug": "1999-march-medicare-milked",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1999-march-medicare-milked.html",
  "year": 1999,
  "month": "March",
  "monthNum": 3,
  "headline": "Medicare milked",
  "kicker": "",
  "author_name": "",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "Plain Dealer",
  "summary": "A study reveals that hospital ownership type significantly impacts how often complications are reported, with for-profit hospitals claiming complications more frequently than non-profits, potentially costing taxpayers $22 million in unnecessary Medicare reimbursements over four years.",
  "keywords": [
    "hospitals",
    "ownership",
    "reimbursement"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Data & Databases",
    "Health & Environment",
    "Business & Economy"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "DRG"
  ],
  "full_text": "Next, we grouped hospitals together based on their size (small, medium and large) and who operates them (for-profits or non-profits).\n\nWe found that size mattered little in how often hospitals claimed complications. Ownership, however, was a big deal. Because the records included the average amount hospitals received for each DRG, we also estimated how much tax money would have been saved if the small, for-profit hospitals had received reimbursement for patients no sicker than patients in their urban, non-profit counterparts. The figure was a whopping $22 million for the four-year period.\n\nDave Davis can be reached by e-mail at ddavis@plaind.com",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "1999-march-upcoding-downfall",
      "score": 0.219
    },
    {
      "slug": "1995-april-tracking-hospitals-that-mistreat-babies",
      "score": 0.206
    },
    {
      "slug": "2003-february-free-stats-programs-compare-hospitals",
      "score": 0.178
    },
    {
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      "score": 0.151
    },
    {
      "slug": "1997-decemberjanuary-military-hospitals-report",
      "score": 0.142
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1999-march-medicare-milked.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1999-march-medicare-milked.json"
}