Multimillion Dollar Settlement a Reminder that Noncompliance with Medicare Costs

Multimillion Dollar Settlement a Reminder that Noncompliance with Medicare Costs

CityMD will pay a $6.6 million settlement over a variety of charges related to treating Medicare patients at its 96 urgent care centers. The U.S. Department of Justice claims the company billed Medicare for services by physicians who did not actually provide them, and charged for more complex procedures than were actually performed or that were unsupported by the documentation provided. By doing so, CityMD received higher reimbursements than it would have if it billed …

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Physician Is Among Those Indicted in Phony Prescription Scheme

Physician Is Among Those Indicted in Phony Prescription Scheme

A Detroit-area physician is among the clinicians indicted in an alleged scheme to overprescribe numerous commonly abused drugs. Asm Akter Ahmed, MD has already been stripped of his license to practice medicine based on charges that he wrote prescriptions destined for four co-conspiring pharmacists, who then fraudulently billed Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross Blue Shield for the medications—some of which were never even dispensed. The estimated cost of the operation, which ran from 2011 through …

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Facebook Fesses Up to Asking Hospitals for Patient Data

Facebook Fesses Up to Asking Hospitals for Patient Data

Facebook is in hot water in the wake of revelations that Cambridge Analytica gained access to user data inappropriately. Now the social media pioneer admits that, at the same time, it was on the hunt for healthcare data on its own users, having asked hospitals to share information on illness and prescriptions for unnamed patients. Paradoxically, the company says it sought the information in order to help “major U.S. hospitals” identify patients who may need …

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TheStreet Makes a Case for Choosing Urgent Care Over the ED

TheStreet Makes a Case for Choosing Urgent Care Over the ED

One might expect to hear urgent care’s praises sung by insurers, public health experts, and certainly patients, but props from a website devoted to offering investment insights might be unexpected. And yet, if you go to TheStreet you’ll find an article boldly titled Why Going to Urgent Care Is Better than the ER. As you read the article, it becomes apparent why the site is on the urgent care bandwagon. Cost savings for healthcare consumers …

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UCA Advocates for Urgent Care in Comments on FDA CLIA Draft Guidance

UCA Advocates for Urgent Care in Comments on FDA CLIA Draft Guidance

The Urgent Care Association is one of numerous organizations that have filed comments regarding a draft Food and Drug Administration Guidance on CLIA-waived tests. UCA, and others, charge that the spirit of Select Updates for Recommendations for Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) Waiver Applications for Manufacturers of In Vitro Diagnostic Devices runs counter to the intent expressed by Congress in passing the amendment. For one thing, they maintain, the FDA must remove proposed discussion …

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