Medicare Fraud – and not by Doctors
Everything we read lately talks about how doctors are having their practices turned inside and out by the government’s henchmen…..otherwise known as RAC Audits. RAC Audits are essentially the governments way of making sure physicians are not over-billing. If they find fraud…..well, you can be in a real world of hurting. We highly suggest you get protection because these audits are happening at an alarming rate. However, we’re not here today to discuss RAC Audits……we’re going to discuss Medicare Fraud by medical supply companies, and one in particular: The Scooter Store.
CBS This Morning did their own investigation after the “Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General released a report, finding that industry-wide, 80 percent of Medicare payments for power chairs are made in error, with most going to people who don’t need them or lack proof they need them. From 2009-2012, government auditors found The SCOOTER Store overbilled Medicare by as much as 108 million dollars.”
They also mentioned that these scooter companies are bullying doctors into giving their patients the “OK” to get one of these….thus making Medicare cover the costs. A link to the CBS video of the investigation is below, but do you think there should be laws in place to stop this type of activity? Or do you think this is not a real story….and it’s just the media creating news? Or maybe somewhere in between?
