editor, Author at Monitor Telegram

Agency Owner Sentenced in $400 Million Home Health Fraud

June 15, 2017

The owner of a home health agency in Dallas has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for his role in the nation’s largest home health care fraud scheme in history—a nearly $400 million scam, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Wilbert James Veasey, Jr., 65, was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $23 million in restitution to Medicare and more than $500,000 to Medicaid. Veasey, along with several others involved in the scheme, was found guilty last year. He has been in custody since early 2016.

Ontario owes teachers, education workers more than $100M for rights violations

June 15, 2017

TORONTO — Ontario is on the hook for more than $100 million and counting to compensate teachers and education workers for violating their rights.

Deals have so far been struck to pay the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

A judge ruled last year that the government “substantially interfered with meaningful collective bargaining” in 2012 legislation that imposed contracts on teachers and education workers.

Florida Doctor Receives 10-Year Sentence For Sober Home Scheme

June 15, 2017

A Florida doctor has received a 10-year federal prison sentence for the role he played in a sober-home fraud scheme that prompted widespread investigation.

Donald Willems, 41, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and received the maximum sentence, according to The Palm Beach Post. According to court documents, Willems signed off on unnecessary drug, allergy and DNA tests during his time as the medical director at Reflections Treatment Center in Margate, Florida.

American Medical Association opposes Medicaid funding caps, adopts new policies

June 14, 2017

The American Medical Association’s House of Delegates voted to adopt new policies during the national physician organization’s annual meeting this week, and in the process reaffirmed its opposition to caps on Medicaid funding, eyeing a possible healthcare overhaul by Congress and the Trump administration.

Carl A. Sirio, MD, said in a statement that capping Medicaid funding would be “disastrous” for patients because it would limit medical responses to unforeseen events and medical innovations.

Trump tells Senators new GOP healthcare bill is ‘mean’

June 14, 2017

During a lunch meeting with GOP senators on Wednesday, President Donald Trump called the House-version of the American Health Care Act “mean,” and urged them to make it more generous.

Trump reportedly talked about having a bill come out of the Senate that protects people with preexisting conditions and having a tax credit that works for low income elderly Americans, according to the story originally reported by the Associated Press.

B.C. notaries offer tips to protect seniors from financial abuse

June 13, 2017

Canada is getting older, and with an aging population, comes more people looking to prey on seniors.

In September 2016, Statistics Canada reported that more than 15 per cent of Canada’s population was over 65; it was 7.6 per cent in 1960.

In fact, people aged 85 years and over now make up the fastest growing age group in Canada — this portion of the population grew by 127 per cent between 1993 and 2013.

3 Whistleblower Suits Net over $60 Million in Medicare Fraud

June 12, 2017

June 12, 2017 – Whistleblower lawsuits alleging Medicare fraud have been settled against two diagnostic testing companies, and a California doctor who was alleged to have falsely diagnosed cancer as a means to bill Medicare for expensive surgeries.

Medicare fraud remains a prominent issue that has recently garnered renewed calls for increased federal audits and investigation. A key factor for the prosecution of these suits comes from the involvement of whistleblowers, who were central to these three recent settlements.

read more at healthpayerintelligence.com

NDP puts London senior waiting for hip replacement surgery in spotlight

June 12, 2017

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath used some real-life examples Monday to blast the Liberal record on health care.

With London Health Sciences Centre as a background, Horwath introduced Bev McCann at a news conference.

The London senior said her life has been on hold while she’s been waiting for hip replacement surgery for more than 18 months.

…

Horwath blamed the Liberal government and preceding Progressive Conservative governments for decades of cuts and waiting lists.

Canada pays more for prescription drugs for common conditions than other wealthy countries: CMAJ study

June 12, 2017

Canada had the second-highest medication costs for common conditions such as high blood pressure and cholesterol in 2015 compared to nine other countries with universal health-care systems, a study published in the CMAJ says. (David Donnelly/CBC)

Canada had the second-highest medication costs for common conditions such as high blood pressure and cholesterol in 2015 compared to nine other affluent countries with universal health-care systems, suggests a new study calling for a national drug plan to lower prices.

Health-care system a free-for-all for double-dipping doctors

June 12, 2017

When you read about Canadians coerced into paying thousands of dollars for quicker access to health-care services that should be available to them at no cost in the publicly funded health system, it is infuriating.

It feels downright un-Canadian.

But, more than anything, the exposé of queue-jumping and double-dipping by The Globe and Mail’s Kathy Tomlinson speaks to the impotence of the regulatory regime.