Legislation aims to curb Medicare scams
By Laura Green, The Palm Beach Post, Fla. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The company has been the target of complaints and a Congressional investigation.
Last week, senators, including
The legislation has been in the works for months. It was filed just days after the
The
The arrests "represent further consequences for bad actors, many of whom CMS had already stopped paying, or even kicked out of the program," said CMS Program Integrity Deputy Administrator
The proposed legislation would give the government access to additional information and backgrounding tools to prevent convicted conmen from getting into the
Under the current structure, providers who had a prior ownership interest in an organization that defrauded
The bill would require
Porush is accused of failing to disclose his interest in the
In
Company officials testified that in 2012 Med-Care received about
A report by congressional staff looked at a sample of the claims filed by Med-Care. It found that 68 percent of them were improper.
A whistleblower also came forward, alleging that the company cold-called seniors, offering them equipment they may not have needed. The company later billed to
Med-Care President
The
Nelson's own aging committee conducted a
At the hearing, CMS' Agrawal testified that since
So far, the agency has revoked billing privileges of 260,000 providers and supplies that refused to respond to screening efforts. Another 17,500 lost privileges based on what that screening turned up: felony convictions, addresses that appeared false, or failure to follow CMS rules, such as licensing requirements.
Nelson and other supporters of his legislation believe the federal government needs to be even tougher on companies seeking to provide
"We have to stop playing the game of Whack-a-Mole with
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