Trend Alert: Nursing Homes Profit at the Expense of Vulnerable Patients
Posted 09/22/16
By Max Voldman
Monday’s announcement of the DOJ’s $28.5 million settlement with North American Health Care (“North American”) is the latest in a disturbing trend of healthcare companies profiting off of medically unnecessary services provided (and sometimes not even provided) to America’s seniors. North American, a chain of 35 nursing homes in California, allegedly billed thousands of procedures to...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to medical equipment supply companies U.S. Healthcare Supply LLC and Oxford Diabetic Supply Inc. On Wednesday, the two companies, along with their owners and presidents, agreed to pay more than $12.2 million to resolve allegations that they violated the 
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to Jacksonville-based Physicians Group Services, P.A., doing business as Coastal Spine and Pain. On Wednesday, the surgery and pain-management clinic agreed to pay $7.4 million to settle charges it violated the 
By Rosie Dawn Griffin
Medicare fraud takes many forms, but a persistent scheme in the inpatient context—where the amount of government reimbursement can be based, in addition to procedure costs, on patients’ overall health—involves “upcoding” inpatient diagnosis-related-group (DRG) codes to make individual patients appear sicker, and therefore more costly to treat, than they actually are. Fraudsters...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center. On Monday, the Central New York hospital agreed to pay $3.2 million to resolve allegations it violated the federal 
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to the Lexington County Health Services District Inc. (d/b/a Lexington Medical Center). Yesterday, the South Carolina hospital agreed to pay $17 million to resolve allegations it violated the 
This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to Evercare Hospice and Palliative Care. On Wednesday, the Minnesota-based provider of hospice care agreed to pay $18 million to resolve charges it violated the 
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to the 301 medical professionals that were the target of Wednesday's government healthcare fraud takedown involving roughly $900 million in alleged fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billings. The "unprecedented nationwide sweep" was led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force and included the Medicaid Fraud Control Units of...