WASHINGTON & NEWARK, N.J. – BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBS-T) has agreed to pay the United States $2.1 million to settle allegations of violating the False Claims Act, the Justice Department announced today. BCBS-T, which is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tenn., operates as Riverbend Government Benefit Administrators. The settlement resolves allegations that BCBS-T, while the primary Medicare Part A Fiscal Intermediary for the state of New Jersey, failed to adjust the cost-to-charge ratios for many New Jersey hospitals in a timely manner between 2000 and 2002 that resulted in the payment of excessive "outlier payments" by Medicare program to those medical facilities. A Part A Fiscal Intermediary is a private insurance company that processes and pays Medicare claims. In addition to its standard payment system, Medicare provides supplemental reimbursement, called outlier payments, to hospitals in cases where the cost of care is unusually high. Congress enacted the s...