FEDS UNCOVER $1 BILLION MEDICARE SCAM–HAVE YOU BEEN SCAMMED?
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FEDS UNCOVER $1 BILLION MEDICARE SCAM–HAVE YOU BEEN SCAMMED?
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Two dozen people, including doctors and owners of medical equipment companies, were charged in a more than $1 billion Medicare scam, authorities said Tuesday.
Investigators uncovered the sprawling plot that targeted elderly and disabled people by setting them up with back, neck and knee braces that they didn’t need, according to federal prosecutors.
Called Operation Brace Yourself, the investigation discovered that medical brace manufacturers were allegedly paying kickbacks and bribes to doctors working with fraudulent telemedicine companies in exchange for Medicare patient referrals for medically unnecessary braces. . . .
As part of the scheme, doctors were paid to prescribe braces to patients they had little to no relationship with. Prescriptions frequently came after doctors had brief conversations via phone or video conference with patients they had never met, prosecutors said.
The global fraud involved call centers in the Philippines and throughout Latin America.
As a result, the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries across the country was compromised and could be used in future schemes, prosecutors said. An even larger number of patients received unwanted braces sent to their homes. The unwanted products could disqualify them from receiving a brace under Medicare if they need one in the future, prosecutors said.
(Read more at NBC News.)
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Comments
Is it legal to charge Medicare twice for a visit?
The local hospital in this area has off campus clinics around the area My Medicare was charged twice for this visit. One billing code “Hospital clinic visit assessment& Management of patient. GO463-PO”. Second bill same visit additional charge as billing code “Established patient office or other outpatient visit, typically 15 minutes (99213).” Interesting the Medicare Summary Notice reads,
first claim processed January 7. Second claim processed January 8th both relate to the same office visit with a PA on December 28, 2018. Why, two separate claims processed on two different dates for one simple visit?
I called Medicare and was advised to speak with my insurance providers. I have a supplemental insurance also.
I paid cash at time of visit for any remaining balance and continue to be billed by the provider. It took a personal visit to their business office to find out that my cash payment was applied. As a patient their was no information provided that just to enter the building was a facility charge and then an additional visit charge to see a PA. Is this also FRAUD???
What is interesting about this report is the same greed is being perpetrated by Medicaid servers and non profits.
We pray evil continues to be exposed Psalm 103.
After a car accident I was in the hospital for 3 days. I paid Doctors and hospital the co pay and Medicare was billed 30k. The discharge nurse wanted to arrange for physical therapy at home but I refused. I did agree to oxygen as I had allergic reactions.
When I got home a Walker was waiting for me. I had already worked that day. I called and asked that it be picked up. End result o gave it to used medical. Yhe oxygen people took a month to come get their equipment. I don’t know how much Medicare was billed!
There are so many that truly need medical care. I pray for this evil yo continue to be revealed. Psalm 5 and for families yo know we can cry out to our Saviour and be heard.
He is Risen..
I contacted a company that advertises on back and knee braces on television. Because of my back pain, I wanted to see if this would help. They sent me a back brace, which was extremely bulky and painful to wear, not helping me at all. I called about 2 weeks later trying to return it, but was told that since I had used it, it couldn’t be returned. The cost to Medicare? More than $1200!!!! What a rip-off! There should be some consequence for this kind of phony-baloney deal!
I get several calls every day from these scammers. I have a screening service on my phone so i don’t have to answer. Of course you can’t block the numbers because they are “not in service”
As a 68 year old I have become a target of many scams. Two I fell for. Not this one.
Time for change?only God can help
After signing up with a new medicare provider early last year, I received a call saying they were sending a nurse to do a check on me. I assumed it was something they did with all new clients so I let her come. Since her coming here to my home, I have received hundreds (if not thousands) of phone calls from all different phone numbers around the United States saying they were calling in reference to my request for knee braces, neck braces, back braces and they were free – it wouldn’t cost me anything. When I would say I don’t need them, they would say but you might in the future and that I should get it now so I wouldn’t have to pay for it later. I received a call this year again for them to have their nurse come here. I told them about all the calls I’ve received since the last one and there was no way I would let her come here again. I wish I had known about this before that call so I could have payed more attention to who they said they were. I still receive those calls 3-4 times a day. Grrrrr.
Will you share with us the name of the provider so we can not use the same provider and thus avoid getting caught up in something like this. Thanks
can you report them?
Here’s what they do here. You will get a bill for $2,000 for a hospital stay that should be covered by part A. The hospital has one year to bill medicare for reimbursement. In the meantime they will send bills to you for this balance without sending them to medicare. They may even state on the bill that medicare denied the claim. If you go ahead and pay the bill without checking out the claim, they have months to submit the original claim to medicare after the fact; double dipping – you pay, and medicare pays. I caught the hospital doing this. I also called medicare to find out about the bill. They told me it hadn’t been submitted. They also said that if it’s submitted and denied, I would receive a letter from them, not a bill from the hospital with a denial. Be sure to check with medicare on any claim you believe is covered. What they are also doing in hospitals is re-coding procedures so that you now can be admitted for a 3 day stay, but as an outpatient. You will pay out of pocket for this. I strongly suspect that a bill to medicare will also be issued with the correct coding, and the patient is none the wiser.
Father God, I ask You to expose this deception and fraud. Let the media focus on this injustice. I know that I have witnessed Medicare fraud and called the provider out on it.
Lord, bless Mary for sounding the trumpet on this.