Hospital: Verizon Overbilled by Millions of Dollars

Beth Israel Medical Center claims that Verizon Communications overbilled it by millions of dollars over a period of years. The hospital says it is owed $9 million, the New York Post reported, citing court documents in the article.

In a lawsuit filed against Verizon last month in federal court, Beth Israel alleges that it was overcharged by $1 million through long-distance rates that were 10 times the 3-cent-a-minute rate in its contract; billed $340,000 for data services it never used; and charged roughly $7 million for services it had already pre-paid.

The hospital is seeking the money back plus $25 million in punitive damages, according to the report.

The lawsuit seeks to reopen aged billing disputes that Verizon has already resolved. Verizon and Continuum have been meeting regularly  as recently as last week  to resolve the hospitals’ billing concerns,” Verizon spokesman John Bonomo told us via email. “These hospitals have been Verizon customers for more than ten years. As with any customer, Verizon has always worked diligently to resolve the billing disputes in accordance with our service contracts with the hospitals. Verizon is disappointed that the hospitals, themselves large, sophisticated businesses, have attempted to spin a past billing dispute into tales of fraud. These claims are meritless.”