CityMD and the New York Attorney General have signed off on a deal on behalf of more than 300,000 patients at 140 urgent care clinics who were improperly billed for nearly $14 million for Covid-19 tests during the height of the pandemic in 2022.
Despite knowing that state and federal laws prohibited health plans from charging patients for co-pays and deductibles for Covid-19 tests and clinic visits, CityMD billed patients for the services, according to a Feb. 11 announcement by Attorney General Letitia James. In some instances, CityMD issued bills up to two years after the services were provided and threatened to turn overdue bills over to a debt collector.
CityMD cancelled bills totaling $7,026,668 for 87,334 patients and issued $6,910,986 in refunds to 215,819 patients. It has agreed to pay $95,000 in penalties to New York and $5,000 for every future misbilling.
CityMD is a subsidiary of Summit Health Management, a New Jersey company that operates eight urgent care clinics in Westchester County, as well as several former Westmed medical practices. Summit also runs an urgent care clinic and several medical offices in Fairfield, Connecticut, that are not part of the settlement.
CityMD had submitted Covid-19 bills to health care insurance plans during a federally-declared public health emergency. When the health plans assessed patient cost-sharing fees, CityMD billed the patients.
The attorney general opened an investigation in October 2022 after patients complained about the bills. Many of them claimed that CityMD had refused to drop the bills, according to the settlement.
The investigation was brought under a state law that prohibits deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any business, and a law that prohibits repeated fraudulent or illegal acts.
CityMD quickly agreed to cancel the bills and refund patients who had already paid. The attorney general continued its investigation, and CityMD, the state says, cooperated. CityMD also assured the state that it did not actually turn any of the bills over to debt collectors.
The settlement requires CityMD to clearly post the full cost of Covid-19 testing services to patients; train its staff on appropriate billing practices; and periodically report to the attorney general on its compliance with the agreement.
CityMD settled the case to avoid the cost and distraction of litigation, according to the settlement. The state accepted the settlement as “appropriate and in the public interest.”
The deal was signed on Feb. 10 by Dr. Adam Barrison, Summit Health Management’s chief physician executive. It was signed on Feb. 11 on behalf of Letitia James by Eve Woodin, assistant attorney general of the Health Care Bureau.
This was not CityMD’ first, costly Covid-19 controversy.
In June 2024, CityMD agreed to pay $12 million to the federal government for submitting false Covid-19 claims to a program for uninsured patients, where the patients did have health insurance.
The federal case was initiated by a whistleblower complaint bought by a CityMD patient in New Jersey. The whistleblower was awarded $2 million, as his share of the recovery.
