Report: Contractors hired to weed out Medicare fraud have connections to cos. they investigate

[maddezmom]

MIAMI — Firms that are paid tens of millions of dollars to root out Medicare fraud are bidding on contracts to investigate companies they are doing business with — sometimes their own parent companies, according to a government report released Tuesday.

Two-thirds of the companies that bid on contracts during a nearly year-and-a-half time period beginning in October of 2010 had financial ties to claims processors — and in some cases also processed Medicare claims themselves, according to the study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector-general. The report blames what it calls a flawed bidding system and an inadequate conflict-of-interest policy.

The study looked into bids from about 100 potential contractors and subcontractors and found nearly 2,000 relationships that posed potential conflicts. For example, one company submitted a bid to investigate Medicare fraud even though its parent company provided two types of Medicare coverage in all 50 states.

Medicare fraud contractors are often tied to a large number of providers, but the report doesn’t break the numbers down by each contractor.

The federal government requires Medicare fraud contractors to identify their potential conflicts and their financial interests in other companies when submitting bids, but the report found they often failed to provide all the information. Even when they did, it was sometimes inconsistent or unclear, according to the study, which urged federal health officials to adopt formal, clear guidelines for companies to follow when submitting bids.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/report-contractors-hired-to-weed-out-medicare-fraud-have-connections-to-cos-they-investigate/2012/07/10/gJQAO6RsaW_story.html

[cbayer]

1. Well, good for the Inspector General. It's about time.

Those working in healthcare have known about these conflicts for a long time, but previous administrations have looked away for years.

[maddezmom]

2. yeah, wonder if Rick Scott had any of his lackeys involved in this scheme

Scott on health care: Give this man a truth tonic

By Robyn E. Blumner, Times Columnist
In Print: Sunday, July 8, 2012
Throughout Rick Scott's governorship he has had a tenuous relationship with the truth. It's beyond Stephen Colbert's truthiness. If facts don't serve Scott's purpose, he revises them until they do.

Maybe this penchant started as a businessman when he led the Columbia/HCA hospital chain while it engaged in massive Medicare and Medicaid fraud; the company later pleaded guilty to at least 14 corporate felonies. Scott maintains that he didn't know what was going on.

Maybe he broke ranks with the truth after invoking his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination 75 times during a deposition that otherwise requires the subject to be honest.

But whenever Scott decided that the truth is just not his cup of tediousness, his predilection for making stuff up has been on full display since the federal health care law was largely upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last month.

more:http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/article1239037.ece

[cbayer]

3. He was one of the first health care CEO's who totally abused the system for profit.

He's a crook and always has been.

[Booster]

4. This is the problem with hiring contractors/people to look for something. They're getting paid to

look for it, and paid a lot. It's the same for a cancer/or any disease cure. We should change the way this is done. A huge trust should be set up & advertised that anyone who finds (whatever) gets the trust. Again, there's no checks and balances in the way the gov does business. Are you telling me the gov totally relies on these contractors telling them the truth w/o checking? That's just dumb.

[cbayer]

5. There is already a *bounty* fund for patients who report fraud and abuse.

But these operate on a small scale.

The government has been woefully negligent in rooting out fraud and abuse until the Obama administration took over, imo. Now that just need to straighten out the system.

[Scuba]

6. Another private sector "efficiency".