HealthCare Notes

Showing posts with label Medicare Fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medicare Fraud. Show all posts

12/27/13

Investigation Reveals Rampant Fraud by Privatized Hospice Groups | Common Dreams

Investigation Reveals Rampant Fraud by Privatized Hospice Groups | Common Dreams
"Washington Post investigation into the world of hospice care published Thursday found that what was initially intended to be a peaceful end-of-life alternative led by religious and community organizations, has now evolved into a $17 billion for-profit industry ripe with scams and abuse.
Hospice care, which focuses on providing comfort to the terminally ill rather than finding a cure, is funded primarily by Medicare—which makes an estimated 85 to 90 percent of all payments to hospices."

6/7/13

The Other Reason Medicare Is Getting Stronger

The Other Reason Medicare Is Getting Stronger: The federal government banned almost 15,000 fraudsters from billing Medicare in just the last two years, new data from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finds — over a two-fold increase from the two years before that. The crackdown is a consequence of Obamacare anti-fraud provisions and may be part of the reason [...]/p

1/25/13

How A Pharma Giant Used The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Deal To Profit At The Expense Of Elderly Americans

How A Pharma Giant Used The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Deal To Profit At The Expense Of Elderly Americans: Amgen Inc. — one of America’s largest biotech and pharmaceutical companies — has had a rough couple of months. In December, the firm was fined $762 million for illegally promoting drugs and defrauding Medicare. And now lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are looking to undo a little-noticed provision that Amgen successfully lobbied for [...]/p

10/6/12

U.S. Arrests 91 In Massive $430 Million Medicare Fraud Bust

U.S. Arrests 91 In Massive $430 Million Medicare Fraud BustThe Obama Administration has taken Medicare billing fraud very seriously, setting up consumer-driven watchdog groups, issuing strict warnings to providers about gaming Medicare for personal gain, and enforcing strong fraud-prevention measures in Obamacare, all in an effort to curb unsavory (and illegal) practices such as “upcoding” that have the potential to devastate the medically needy by looting the safety-net program’s funds and driving up costs. The recent arrests go to show that the Administration has the bite to go with its bark.