Q: Are hospitals inflating the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths so they can be paid more? A: Recent legislation pays hospitals higher Medicare rates for COVID-19 patients and treatment, but there is no evidence of fraudulent reporting. FULL QUESTION Are hospitals getting 13,000 per patient if they write that on the diagnosis is COVID19 on the patient’s chart, and 35,000 for each patient if they are on ventilators? I keep seeing posts in social media claiming that hospitals are over-stating covid-19 deaths because the they are paid more for these deaths …