U.S. federal prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against Novartis Pharmaceuticals saying the company paid kickbacks to doctors to encourage prescriptions of its drugs. The federal suit stemming from whistleblower information, said that payments to doctors were disguised as honorariums for doctors to give educational presentations which were actually social outings including outings to Hooters...
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Category: Healthcare Fraud
Hospital cardiologist kickback scheme exposed Cooper Health System pays $12.6 Million to resolve whistleblower case by Feds
A prominent heart doctor Nicholas DePace M.D. became a whistleblower to stop a kickback scheme in a major medical facility in which doctors were paid substantial moneys just to refer their patients to the medical center, Cooper Health Systems. Paying doctors for referrals violates the Federal Kickback Statute and various other laws. The lawsuit...
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Report: Billions each year in fraudulent in billing by nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ACTUAL REPORT: Fraudulent-billing-nursing-homes
Critically Ill children in hospitals frequently get drugs off-label exposing them to risk
A recent study at the Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake showed that a majority of drugs used in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), are used in an off-label manner, exposing the patients to meds that may not have been studied in children. Of 335 drugs used in a PICU over a...
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CVS Caremark under investigation for refilling prescriptions without patient approval
Medicare is looking into reports that CVS Caremark Corp. the second largest drugstore chain in the nation is refilling prescriptions and submitting them without patients' approval. The Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is examining possible Medicare fraud. Investigators are examining a random sampling of millions of...
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Doctors and Other Healthcare Providers “Upcoding” Bills to Medicare to Increase Profits
Thousands of doctors and other medical professionals are billing Medicare for increasingly complicated and costly treatments and this signals a rise in Medicare billing abuse. This is according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity which shows that between 2001 and 2010 doctors moved to higher paying codes for billing Medicare for...
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DOCTORS AND OTHERS BILLING MEDICARE AT HIGHER RATES DUE TO “UPCODING”
Thousands of doctors and other medical professionals are billing Medicare for increasingly complicated and costly treatments and this signals a rise in Medicare billing abuse. This is according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity which shows that between 2001 and 2010 doctors moved to higher paying codes for billing Medicare for...
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HOSPITALS FAIL TO REPORT 99% OF PATIENT HARM EVENTS
According to a new report from the Office of Inspector General looking at Medicare beneficiaries, only 1 percent of adverse events and temporary harm evens are reported by hospitals. Many of the unreported events involve serious harm including patient deaths. A key threat ti patient safety, according to the report, is that most health...
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KIDNEY DIALYSIS GIANT DAVITA SETTLES WHISTLEBLOWER CASE FOR $55 MILL FOR OVER-USE OF EPOGEN
Kidney dialysis giant DaVita Inc. has agreed to settle a whistleblower lawsuit by paying $55 million over allegations that it used more Epogen than was medically necessary and for double billing the government for Epogen left over in vials and reused. The whistleblower, Ivey Woodward and her counsel will receive a reward of $16.5...
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GLAXOSMITHKLINE PAYS $3 BILL. OVER DRUG LABELING FRAUD – LARGEST HEALTH CARE SETTLEMENT IN HISTORY
A U.S. unit of GlaxoSmithKline has today agreed to plead guilty and pay $3 BILLION for marketing drugs for unapproved uses according to documents filed in Federal Court in Boston. According to The Dept. of Justice, this is the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. History. Glaxo admits to illegally promoting Paxil for...
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