Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse
Earlier this year, Houston psychiatrist Riaz Mazcuri was found guilty for his involvement with a $158 million Medicare fraud scheme being run out of Riverside General Hospital.
He was convicted in May by a federal jury on one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and five counts of fraud, and his sentencing is set for October.
read more at rare.us
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.
read more at homehealthcarenews.com
A Toronto-based health-care company that’s been the subject of a number of employee complaints of late or non-payment has received millions in contracts from the provincial and regional governments.
Abira Healthcare — a designated physiotherapy service provider approved and funded by Ontario’s Ministry of Health — is reportedly consistently delayed in paying some therapists hired to work in long-term care homes, a CBC Toronto investigation has found. Some complaints date back almost five years.
To provide its services, Abira — which is owned by Dani Diena and also operates as a numbered company: 2275518 Ontario Inc. — hires independent contractors throughout southwestern Ontario to carry out physiotherapy and other rehabilitation at care homes and clinics across the province. It also operates a physiotherapy clinic in north Toronto.
Read more at cbc.ca
Cheyenne, Wyo. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment on May 19th charging Powell psychologist Gibson Condie with 234 counts of health care fraud involving approximately $6.8 million in fraudulent bills submitted to Wyoming Medicaid.
That’s according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This indictment was the result of an investigation by the FBI, the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, and the Wyoming Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
Read more at kgwn.tv
America’s largest chain of psychiatric hospitals is the target of a multi-agency federal investigation into whether it systematically holds patients longer than necessary to maximize revenues — an allegation two nurses at one of its facilities raised following a protest a
t its headquarters in Pennsylvania last week.
According to three sources with direct knowledge of the investigation, officials are examining whether Universal Health Services directs its hospitals to hold patients for as many days as their insurer agrees to pay for, regardless of actual medical need. The probe has been ongoing since at least 2013, when the Department of Health and Human Services issued subpoenas to 10 UHS psychiatric hospitals.
But BuzzFeed News has exclusively learned that the investigation has since broadened to include the FBI and the Department of Defense, which is scrutinizing UHS’s billings to Tricare, the insurance plan for active military and their families. UHS, a $12 billion company, made nearly one-third of its revenues last year from government insurance providers such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Read more at buzzfeed.com
LONDON — Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, traveled to Guinea earlier this month to join the country’s president in celebrating the world’s first Ebola vaccine.
After praising health workers in West Africa for their triumph over the lethal virus, Chan spent the night in the presidential suite at the beach-side Palm Camayenne hotel. The suite, equipped with marble bathrooms and a dining room that seats eight, has an advertised price of 900 euros ($1,008) per night.
Some say such luxurious accommodations send the wrong message to the rest of WHO’s 7,000 staffers — and may hurt the cash-strapped health agency’s fundraising efforts to fight diseases worldwide.
Read more at statnews.com
The owner of four Detroit area-based home health companies was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for a $33 million Medicare fraud scheme he played a role in.
Zafar Mehmood, owner of Access Care Home Care Inc., Patient Care Home Care Inc., Hands on Healing Home Care Inc. and All State Home Care Inc., was involved in a Medicare scam that took place from 2006 through 2011, according to the Department of Justice.
Mehmood was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, four counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, two counts of money laundering and two counts of obstruction of justice, court documents show.
Through this scheme, Mehmood obtained patients by paying cash kickbacks to recruiters, who then paid cash to patients to convince them to sign up for home health care with Mehmood’s companies. Mehmood also paid kickbacks to physicians to refer patients to his companies for unnecessary home health care services, the evidence in court showed.
Along with co-conspirators, Mehmood falsified records to make it appear that patients were qualified to receive certain services that Medicare paid over $33 million for during the six years the conspiracy took place.
A Grinnell, Iowa physician has pleaded guilty in federal court on two counts of health care fraud, says U.S. Attorney Kevin VanderSchel .
Richard Hauser, 66, of North Liberty, submitted claims to Iowa Medicaid and Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield for a more expensive service than was actually performed in order to receive a profit, according to the plea agreement. Hauser “up coded” these services from November 2011 through December 2012 while working at a clinic in Grinnell called The Hauser Clinic.
Source: http://wqad.com/2016/10/19/former-iowa-psychiatrist-pleads-guilty-to-health-care-fraud/