Wisconsin: State budget includes repeal of Medicaid whistle-blower provision
http://www.jsonline.com/business/state-budget-includes-repeal-of-medicaid-whistle-blower-provision-b99535688z1-313484731.html
The repeal of the law — no more than a few words and a reference to a section in the state statute — was included in an omnibus motion on Medicaid by the Joint Finance Committee and drew little attention. There were no hearings or even public discussion by the committee.
"Whose idea is this?" asked Nola Hitchcock Cross, a Milwaukee lawyer who has won multimillion-dollar settlements involving Medicare and Medicaid fraud. "It's just shortsighted and dumb. It's telling Wisconsin that we are not going to collect this money."
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Cross represented a whistle-blower in a lawsuit that recently led to a $31.5 million settlement with PharMerica, which provides pharmacy services to nursing homes and other institutional customers as well as other services in 45 states. The lawsuit alleged the company illegally dispensed drugs, such as OxyContin and fentanyl, without valid prescriptions, and falsely billed the government for them.
Cross also represented a nurse in a lawsuit against Odyssey Healthcare Inc., one of the country's largest providers of hospice care and now part of Gentiva Health Services, that led to a $25 million settlement.
The Wisconsin Republicans don't want to discourage these corporations from bilking the taxpayers. Note that it's corporations, not patients, that were exposed by the old whistleblower law.
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