Medicare Fraud

Every year, we lose billions of dollars to fraud in federal and state health care programs. Every dollar we lose to fraud and abuse is a dollar that is not available to provide home care to seniors, to treat HIV and AIDS, to immunize children, and to discover new treatments for cancer and other diseases. Some fraud schemes even pose a direct threat to the health and safety of patients. Many instances of health care fraud sug­gest that existing control systems do not work the way we imagine they should. Often the manner in which schemes are revealed suggests detection is more luck than system. Whistleblower lawsuits have exposed billing by health care providers for services not rendered, billing for products not delivered, misrepresenting services, unbundling services, billing for medically unnecessary services, duplicate billing, increasing units of service which are subject to a payment rate, falsifying cost reports resulting in increased payment to the health care provider, kickbacks, and on and on. Healthcare fraud is still going strong and this blog is intended to keep readers up to date with all healthcare fraud related news and to provide commentary when warranted. This blog also contains an array of laws and regulations concerning healthcare fraud set out in an easy to read format.

President’s Proposed 2010 Budget Aims to Increase Revenue by Reducing Fraud, Abuse

by Nolan and Auerbach on February 3, 2010

President Obama’s fiscal year 2010 proposed budget estimates that reducing health care fraud, waste and abuse could save the government about $10 billion in a decade’s time. The budget pledges nearly $1.5 billion for its Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC), including a $311 million increase in HCFAC funding. The budget takes aim at reducing Medicare and Medicaid fraud, waste and abuse by, inter alia, increasing oversight and use of national coding and technology to ensure appropriate Medicare payments for imaging and more. It also proposes to address financial conflicts of interest in physician-owned specialty hospitals. This is another firm indication that President Obama is well aware that investing in fraud detection and enforcement will return taxpayer dollars many times over.

To review the budget outline, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/. Or, for more information about Medicare fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

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National Dental Management Company Pays $24 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

by Nolan and Auerbach on January 24, 2010

The United States has settled False Claims Act allegations against FORBA Holdings LLC, a dental management company that provides business management and administrative services to 69 clinics nationwide known as “Small Smiles Centers.” Under the agreement, FORBA will pay the United States and participating states $24 million, plus interest, to resolve allegations that it caused bills to be submitted to state Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary dental services performed on children insured by Medicaid.  FORBA also is cooperating with investigators by providing information about dentists who may have violated professional standards, according to a Jan. 20, 2010 press release by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The United States alleged that FORBA was liable for causing the submission of claims for reimbursement for a wide range of dental services provided to low-income children that were either medically unnecessary or performed in a manner that failed to meet professionally-recognized standards of care. These services included performing pulpotomies (baby root canals), placing crowns, administering anesthesia (including nitrous oxide), performing extractions, and providing fillings and/or sealants.

For the full release, go to: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/January/10-civ-052.html.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

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Medicare Fraud Strike Force Charges 30 Individuals with Medicare Fraud and Expands Operations

by Nolan and Auerbach on January 12, 2010

Thanks to the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, 30 people have been charged in three cities for their alleged roles in schemes to submit more than $61 million in false Medicare claims, according to a Dec. 15, 2009 press release by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). These individuals who were charged are accused of various Medicare fraud crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the Medicare program, conspiracy to launder money, money laundering, criminal false claims, making false statements, and receiving kickbacks, according to the release.

On the same day of the release, the Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the expansion of Strike Force operations into Brooklyn, Tampa, and Baton Rouge.  Strike Force teams are operating in seven cities: Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Brooklyn, Tampa, and Baton Rouge.

The Strike Force has obtained indictments of more than 460 individuals and organizations that collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than one billion dollars, according to the release.

For the full release, go to: http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel09/medicare_121509.htm.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

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Spectranetics Corporation to Pay $5 Million to Resolve Allegations of Health Care Fraud

by Nolan and Auerbach on January 7, 2010

Spectranetics Corporation, a medical device manufacturer, has agreed to pay the United States $4.9 million in civil damages, as well $100,000 forfeiture to resolve claims against the company, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced December 29, 2009.

The claims arise from allegations that the company illegally imported unapproved medical devices and provided them to physicians for use in patients; committed fraud in a clinical study by failing to comply with federal regulations; and promoted certain products for procedures for which the company had not received Food and Drug Administration approval or clearance.

The company manufactures, distributes and sells certain medical lasers and peripheral devices for those lasers, such as lead wires that guide the lasers through vascular tissue and catheters that carry and contain the lasers inside the veins, including, specifically, the CVX-300 Medical Laser and the CliRpath Turbo Laser Catheter, the TURBO Elite Laser Ablation Catheter, and the TURBO-Booster Laser Guide Catheter, according to the DOJ.

To read the full press release, go to: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/December/09-civ-1385.html.

For more information about qui tam and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

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Texas Hospital to Pay U.S. Nearly $1 Million for Allegations it Violated the False Claims Act

by Nolan and Auerbach on January 7, 2010

Arlington Memorial Hospital, Arlington, Texas, has agreed to pay the U.S. $990,509.50 to resolve allegations that it violated the civil False Claims Act, according to a Jan. 4, 2010 announcement by U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

The Texas hospital allegedly violated the civil False Claims Act by submitting improper claims for payment to the Medicare program between July 1, 2003, and July 1, 2007, for pulmonology-related items and services.

In August 2007, Arlington Memorial’s corporate parent self-disclosed to the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) that a long-standing contract with a physician group for the interpretation of arterial blood gas (ABG) tests potentially violated federal law. The U.S. contends that Arlington Memorial Hospital knowingly failed, through the actions of its former president, to eliminate payments to the group for the interpretations of hospital tests that were not performed, and that Arlington Memorial Hospital AMH knew such payments were not in compliance with federal legal requirements, according to the U.S. Department of Justice press release.

For the full release, go to: http://www.justice.gov/usao/txn/PressRel10/arlington_memorial_hospital_settle_pr.html.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

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Nation’s Largest Inpatient Rehab Services Provider Allegedly Paid Illegal Kickbacks to L.A. Orthopedic Clinic

by Nolan and Auerbach on December 4, 2009

HealthSouth Corporation, the nation’s largest provider inpatient rehabilitative healthcare services, allegedly paid illegal kickbacks to the Kerlan Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic, a sports medicine clinic in Los Angeles. As a result, the Kerlan Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic has agreed to pay the United States $3 million to settle these allegations, the United States Department of Justice announced December 1, 2009.

The settlement resolves allegations that HealthSouth paid kickbacks to Kerlan Jobe in the form of stock option grants, donations to the Kerlan Jobe Foundation, loan forgiveness on an equipment lease, and a disproportionately high ownership interest in a jointly owned ambulatory surgery center. In exchange for the illegal kickbacks, Kerlan Jobe allegedly referred patients to HealthSouth facilities. As a condition of continued participation in government healthcare programs, Kerlan Jobe was required to enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services to address Kerlan Jobe’s financial relationships with referral recipients.

For the full release, go to: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/December/09-civ-1294.html.

For more information about qui tam and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA. 

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Grassley Introduces Bill to Fight Medicare Fraud

by Nolan and Auerbach on November 16, 2009

Working to protect taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley has introduced legislation to give the federal government more time to pay Medicare providers when waste, fraud and abuse is suspected, according to a November 16, 2009 press release on IowaPolitics.com.

Right now, federal law requires that Medicare send payment within a very short time frame, even when there is risk of fraud, waste or abuse.

The bill Grassley introduced on November 16 - the Fighting Medicare Payment Fraud Act of 2009 - would give the Secretary of Health and Human Services authority to extend the time period in which payments must be made under the prompt payment rule if the Secretary determines there is a likelihood of fraud, waste or abuse. With this additional time, the Secretary would be required to conduct more detailed reviews of the claims in question to make sure they are supposed to be paid.

The Grassley bill also requires the experts in the Office of Inspector General to recommend, on at least an annual basis, categories of providers or suppliers where additional scrutiny is needed before payments are made under the prompt payment rule. To make sure there is action on these recommendations, the Secretary would be required to provide a response to the Inspector General on these recommendations, according to the release.

For the full press release, go to: http://www.iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=177068.

For information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

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