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Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse.

Big Pharma Company Caught Faking Cancer Patients to Sell Deadly Opioid Drugs

It’s no secret that many pharmaceutical drugs have life-threatening side effects, but oftentimes they aren’t discussed when the medication is being prescribed to the patient. It’s important that, when taking any pharmaceutical drug, you weigh the pros and cons of taking the drug, because when it comes to pharmaceuticals, the benefits don’t always outweigh the risks.

Sometimes, the wrong drugs will be prescribed to patients, but it isn’t very often that Big Pharma companies get caught literally conspiring to do so. Pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics is currently under investigation for making it look like patients had cancer (when they did not) so they could sell their opioid drugs to them.

Read more at Collective Evolution

Report: Drug company faked cancer patients to sell drug

Washington (CNN)When Insys Therapeutics got approval to sell an ultra-powerful opioid for cancer patients with acute pain in 2012, it soon discovered a problem: finding enough cancer patients to use the drug.

To boost sales, the company allegedly took patients who didn’t have cancer and made it look like they did.

The drug maker used a combination of tactics, such as falsifying medical records, misleading insurance companies and providing kickbacks to doctors in league with the company, according to a federal indictment and ongoing congressional investigation by Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri.

Read more at CNN Politics

Some treatment centers accused of keeping addicts hooked for insurance dollars

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Reflections treatment center looked like just the place for Michelle Holley’s youngest daughter to kick heroin. Instead, as with dozens of other Florida substance abuse treatment facilities, the owner was more interested in defrauding insurance companies by keeping addicts hooked, her family says.

“It looked fine. They were saying all the right things to me. I could not help my child so I trusted them to help my child,” Holley said.

Instead, the center refused to give 19-year-old Jaime Holley her prescription medicine when she left, forcing her to use illegal drugs to avoid acute withdrawal symptoms, her mother said. She died of a heroin overdose last November. “Right to my face they lied to me, and I believed them.”

Read more at Local 8 Now

Surrey chiropractor ordered to pay almost $20,000 for ICBC fraud

A Surrey chiropractor has been ordered to pay almost $20,000 after he was found guilty of defrauding ICBC.

Dr. Maninder Singh Badyal, the owner of Absolute Health and Wellness Clinic in Surrey, was convicted in June of committing fraud over $5,000 and billing ICBC for treatments that were never performed.

The investigation dates back to October, 2014, when an ICBC adjuster noticed some irregularities in documentation involving one patient.

Read more at Global News

Arnprior doctor, hospital sued in $5-million malpractice claim

When Ray Nicholas noticed a bump on his stomach, he went to see his family doctor and was advised it was likely a hernia, and that there was no need for treatment.

A month later, in July 2015, he returned to the doctor, complaining of pain. He says he was told to keep rubbing and pushing it in to alleviate the discomfort.

No medication prescribed, no referral to a specialist.

A month after that, Nicholas needed life-saving surgery.

Read more at Ottawa Citizen

10 TTC employees face charges in health benefit fraud case

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

Austin-area medical professionals indicted in record-breaking healthcare fraud enforcement

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

7 women charged in $7 million Medical Assistance fraud

(KMSP) – The Minnesota Attorney General’s office charged seven women with nine counts of theft and racketeering after they allegedly stole about $7.5 million in Medicaid funding.

According to court documents, the alleged ringleader, Lillian Richardson, enlisted family and friends to set up home health care businesses in Minnesota, and collect money for services never rendered.

Read more at fox9.com

An epic case of medical fraud – and the agent who cracked it

It started with a letter from US Senator Charles Grassley.

In December 2009, the Iowa Republican demanded to know how a Miami psychiatrist was writing more than 96,000 prescriptions for Medicaid patients. It was nearly twice the number of the second highest prescriber in Florida.

The psychiatrist, Dr. Fernando Mendez-Villamil, responded with a tartly worded message of his own. “I never thought I would be faulted for working hard or for being very organized and efficient,” he wrote the senator.

Health-care fraud costs the US government and insurance companies some $100 billion a year in overcharges and other rip offs, according to experts. It is a perpetual drain on the nation’s wealth, undercutting the ability to provide quality healthcare to those most in need.

read more at yahoo.com