Feds charge 91 in massive Medicare fraud scheme

Ninety-one people have been charged in seven cities in a series of arrests carried out by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. The suspects are accused of participating in various fraud schemes involving more than $429 million in false billing.

According to officials at the Department of Justice, the suspects allegedly billed Medicare for treatments that were improper or unnecessary. In some cases the government was billed for treatments that were not even provided. Doctors and nurses are among those arrested.

Arrests were made in Houston, Dallas, Brooklyn, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. The largest crackdown occurred in South Florida where 33 people were rounded up and charged in connection with health care fraud cases totaling more than $230 million. In Texas, the president of Riverside General Hospital in Houston and his son were also charged.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius added that new provisions in President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act made it more difficult for fraud to be committed.

This fraud sweep is the latest in a series of raids conducted since 2007 by the strike force. Over the past five years 1,480 suspects have been arrested in Medicare fraud cases totaling $4.8 billion dollars. /p>

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[Ben37221]

Great job Eric Holder and his team at the justice department. Keep it up

[veggiemuffin]

The government has caught these fraudsters because of provisions in Obamacare. As Obama pointed out at the debate last week the $716 billion Romney says Obama stole from Medicare is a reduction in costs due to fraud reduction provisions in Obamacare. They weren't able to crack down before the law. Now they can. If this keeps up they may reduce Medicare costs even more. I guess Romney will claim Obama stole all that money. He knows better.

[GossamerWings]

Great Job. I also agree that all their assets should be seized.

Let's keep catching these parasites.

[MrsHippy]

Hang the bastards. It's people like this that threaten out entire medical system. I have always felt that when I go to the doctor that they would be happier if I just put my wallet on the counter and leave. A couple years ago I was charged $4500 for a biopsy that took a sum total of 45 minutes to do. It couldn't have possibly cost that much in truth.

[cntrygirl3]

In 8 years of W. did you ever once see a headline like this. How many businesses did W. prosecute for immigration violations. As the republicans have been loudly trashing Obama his administration has been actually enforcing the law as it was never done under republicans. Why do you think there is so much screaming about "regulations", his administration has put out many less than W. in the first 4 years but unlike the republicans did, Obama is actually enforcing regulations that are and were on the books and stopping fraud. He is protecting consumers and stopping waste. Bet this doesn't make Fox news tonight.

[lesserof2evil]

Medicare fraud is considered part of the republiCON free market economy.

[Pendraig71]

both parties ascribe to it.

[kbbpll]

I wonder what % of overall healthcare $ is just fraud. Not only Medicare but insurance fraud, unnecessary procedures, unnecessary prescriptions, etc etc.

[Pendraig71]

It will depress you... it is not just hospitals and physicians. Physical Rehabilitation, Nursing homes and ambulance companies are all in the thick of it. In my 22 year career as a provider in pre-hospital emergency medicine I have witnessed and been on the receiving end of such greedy practices.

My ball park estimate is about 30-40% is fraud.

Example#1: the municipal EMS organization I work five years for would bill patients the Advanced Life Support ambulance transport rate ( which is usually double or triple) that of the basic life support transport rate even if I didn't provided advanced life support procedures. 60% of the emergent and non-emergent transports where those holding medicare A & B Cards or State Medicaid.

Example #2: At the end of my career I was working as a member of a critical care flight team ... frequently the RN ( Nurse member of the team ) would not fly on the 911 flights and yet the patient was still billed for the whole team. Even to the point where the crew manifest was doctored to reflect she was on the flights.

In conclusion if the feds really were serious about cracking down on medicare/ medicaid fraud.... the result would be depressing. Hospitals, medical supply companies, clinics, and ambulance organizations would disappear over night. The practice is institutionalized and has been on going for years. Think of it as an unoffical subsidy to the medical industry.

Solution; In Mclean, Virginia I witnessed the a very transparent and upstanding medical practice. This clinic ran a flat fee of $70.00 per visit flat fee, and all labs, medications and procedures where 10% higher than flat cost. It was run by a group of doctors to include two french physicians. The refused insurance, but the bill was clear and transparent enough to when I filled my insurance for reimbursement it wasn't an issue. That is my proposed model for the solution the out-patient medical crisis. In patient is different.

[kbbpll]

Pendraig71, aorry I asked, thanks for details. When my dad was hospitalized in FL, every time someone came into his room for something, they scanned a barcode on his wrist like he was an item in a grocery store. Clearly, that's all he was. With no one checking the receipt.

[endrepubs]

Serious Jail time please! A good 20 years in the hole would suit me.

[john92021]

and no medical

[Berkeley-SkirtLifter]

Whatever happened to:
pychocharlie
Morterman,
Erasmus,
RowdyinTexas,
DaVicar,

to name a few?

[ToolMangler1]

Been a while since I have seen you online. Erasmus & Mortarman still post under their names, the others have taken aliases and I lost track of them..

[Berkeley-SkirtLifter]

Hmmm... I don't know about this comment widget?

[Berkeley-SkirtLifter]

I wonder if Holder will introduce counterfeit medicines to see where they lead. He could call the the program "The Fake and the Phoniest".

[ToolMangler1]

Holder didn't initiate "Fast'N Furious", Bush's team did...