Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc for patients, family, the economy and the health care system. In an attempt to provide support to families and businesses, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act injects funding into the economy. Further, regulations have been relaxed. As Michael Adelberg and Melissa Garrido write today in the Health Affairs…
Every year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) conducts a recovery audit. In a recent report, Medicare collected over $797 million in Medicare overpayments in 2011. Where do these overpayments come from? Inpatient: $677m Durable Medical Equipment & Other: $35m Physician: $33m Outpatient: $17m Skilled Nursing Facilities: $0.2m Recovery Audit Contractors returned $488…
The answer depends on who you ask. According to the GAO, Medicare spent $48 billion in “improper payments,” which include fraud but also waste, eligibility errors, miscoded claims and insufficient documentation. GAO determined that Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service plan had a 10.5 percent error rate. Attorney General Eric Holder, suggest there may be $60 billion in…
Physicians earn high salaries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that the median primary care physicians made $186,044, and specialists typically earn $339,738. Some physicians earn much more than that, but not always through legitimate means. Consider the case of Dr. Jacques Roy: Federal law enforcement officials announced charges in the largest healthcare fraud scam…
Yesterday, 60 Minutes reported on Dr. Anil Potti, researcher at Duke University. Dr. Potti supposedly offered cancer patients improved cancer treatments. These recommendations, however, were based on falsified data. “Five years ago, Duke University announced it had found the holy grail of cancer research. They’d discovered how to match a patient’s tumor to the best chemotherapy…
Currently, Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries receive significantly more choice than standard commercial plans. They can choose any provider they wish (who accepts Medicare). There are no cost-sharing differences between in-network and out-of-network doctors (because there is no ‘in-network’ for Medicare). Although certain Part D prescription drug plans require prior authorization for specific drugs, few services…
In their latest 2011, MedPAC made four recommendations to alter payment policy in the home health setting. These include the following: The Secretary, with the Office of Inspector General, should conduct medical review activities in counties that have aberrant home health utilization. The Secretary should implement the new authorities to suspend payment and the enrollment…
Many politicians claim that there is much fraud waste and abuse in the Medicare system. Would prosecuting executives accused of wrong-doing decrease the amount of fraud in the system? Some policymakers think so. The recent actions of the health department go further. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has long barred people convicted of certain…
One of President Obama’s biggest initiatives as part of health reform was to reduce fraud, waste and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. Today, I will discuss how the Medicaid program fights fraud at the federal level. Because Medicaid is state-run, the States have typically been the ones responsible for ensuring efficient Medicaid operations. However, the…
In 2006, Columbia/HCA was forced to return $1.7 billion to the federal government for defrauding Medicare. How was the federal government able to amass such strong evidence against HCA in order to win such a large settlement? The answer to the question is revealed in a book called Undercover by John W. Schilling. The book…