Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse
Ten current or former TTC employees are facing criminal charges in connection with what’s being called a multi-million dollar insurance scheme.
The charges were annonced Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation by Toronto police and the TTC that started back in 2014.
The transit agency says 150 employees have either been fired, retired or resigned in order to avoid being dismissed since the investigation began.
Read more at citynews.ca
Taking prescription painkillers such as Percocet or Vicodin for more than a few days sharply increases your risk of getting hooked on the drugs, according to a new study just out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers at the University of Arkansas analyzed the health records of about 1.3 million adults who were prescribed opioids between 2006 and 2015.
Results showed that only about one in 20 people who took prescription painkillers for just three days were still on the drugs a year later.
Read more at clickorlando.com
Recently, a court in Ontario upheld a ruling by Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner that the names of Ontario’s highest paid doctors, amounts they receive from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan and their medical specialties should be disclosed to the public because it is public information, not private as several doctors’ groups had argued. The Toronto Star has been championing this fight since 2013 because the only information Ontario’s health ministry would release to the paper’s FOI request at that time was that the top 100 billing doctors in the province pulled down $191 million from 2012 to 2013 and that “the highest biller alone claimed more than $6 million, while the second- and third-highest billers each claimed more than $4 million. Nineteen doctors received payments of more than $2 million each.”
Good doctors can do a lot of good work
Let’s be clear – just because a doctor bills a lot of money does not mean necessarily there is something sinister going on. Some doctors are amazing producers and can help many patients. They deserve their rewards and our thanks because they actually save money.
Taxpayers deserve accountability
That being said, in our taxpayer funded system, this does not mean they fall outside the scrutiny of the public for the monies they receive. We have a right to know if the money is well-spent or not. But apparently, the medical profession does not see it that way. They have already appealed this ruling.
Health care bureaucrats invisible
It is incredibly disturbing that a private organization like the Star needs to be the one to champion this issue. Where are the civil servants we pay to be stewards of our government health care funds? It is appalling that the Information and Privacy Commissioner apparently stands alone to make this information public.
Earlier this year, we released a white paper on healthcare fraud in Canada. The “lily-white, I’m all right, Jack” of Canadian provincial health care agencies on this subject is a dubious pose, considering the substantial fraud uncovered daily just across the border. Ah, but there, American government agencies are the ones shining the light of truth on private health institutions. Here, the government would only be shining the light on itself, something no Canadian government agency, federal or provincial, in its right mind would do.
Canadians have bought a Trump-style contradiction
It is our position that Canadians have been lulled into a false sense of security on how their health care money is being spent. They, unfortunately, have bought the comforting and delusional platitudes of “everything is okay, this is Canada” in a similar vein to those Americans who believe Donald Trump will be their saviour despite his obvious willingness to dismantle their own health care system and put tens of millions of people out of health insurance coverage. One thing said, another thing done.
Federal level law enforcement authority needed
That is why we have called for a federal authority, perhaps under the RCMP, to investigate and prosecute healthcare fraud in this country despite the fact that health care is a provincial issue. Is it perfect?
No, but it would be a hell of a lot better than what we have.
An American fugitive accused of defrauding Connecticut’s Medicaid program of $4 million was arrested at Montreal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport Thursday.
Ramil Mansourov, 47, and his colleague Bharat Patel, who ran a private, family medical practice in Connecticut, were charged with writing prescriptions for such drugs as oxycodone outside the scope of legitimate medical practice, health care fraud, and money laundering. Patel remains in Connecticut, where he was arrested at his home.
Read more at montrealgazette.com
Federal officials are working to eliminate any fraud or mistakes from the government’s largest seniors benefits program through a massive review of payments and testing a new way to catch problems before they get into the system.
Government officials are in the midst of a large-scale, national review of existing old age security recipients with investigators contacting seniors to go over details like marital status, unreported departures from Canada or unreported deaths.
Read more at cbc.ca
WASHINGTON — More than 400 people have been charged with taking part in health care fraud and opioid scams that totalled $1.3 billion in false billing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Thursday.
Sessions called the collective action the “largest health care fraud takedown operation in American history” and said it indicates that some doctors, nurses and pharmacists “have chosen to violate their oaths and put greed ahead of their patients.”
Among those charged are six Michigan doctors accused of a scheme to prescribe unnecessary opioids. A Florida rehab facility is alleged to have recruited addicts with gift cards and visits to strip clubs, leading to $58 million in false treatments and tests.
Read more at thespec.com
Mental health’ is a phrase everybody uses without thinking. Yet when we subject it to critical analysis, we can see just how slippery a term it really is. It is a term that reduces and reifies human experience to simple categories of good and ill health.
Before criticising the idea of mental health, it’s important to state that to do so is not to diminish or denigrate the mental distress that many people do indeed experience. My aim, rather, is to show how the use of the category of mental health actually detracts from the real suffering of people.
Read more at spiked-online.com
AUSTIN – Two Austin psychologists and a Cedar Park patient recruiter have been indicted in part of what is now being called the largest health care fraud enforcement action in Department of Justice history.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, M.D., announced the record-breaking health care fraud enforcement action by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force on Thursday.
Read more at kvue.com
In the 15 months he has been Manitoba’s health minister, Kelvin Goertzen has demonstrated a clear and profound disdain for sacred cows.
The past 90 days alone, Goertzen unveiled plans to close and repurpose three Winnipeg hospital emergency rooms, shutter two dozen rural Emergency Medical Services stations, and cut tens of millions of dollars in operating funds from regional health authorities.
Read more at winnipegfreepress.com
LAVAL, Que. – Thirteen people pleaded guilty Tuesday in a fraud scheme involving the awarding of municipal contracts in the Montreal-area city of Laval.
Twelve of the 13 received sentences to be served in the community.
Read more at 660news.com