Health Law Attorney Blog

Published on: December 26, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

CMS Releases Contractor Guidance on Applying the MPPR to Advanced Imaging Services Provided by Group Practices

On December 13, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) released Transmittal 1104. This Transmittal is a one-time update that provides guidance to contractors on applying the Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction (“MPPR”) to advanced imaging services provided for one beneficiary during one session by multiple providers in the same group practice. This transmittal […]

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Published on: December 12, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

PTA in Detroit Sentenced to 30 Months for Her Role in Multi-Million Dollar Home Health Care Fraud

On December 11, 2012, Hetal Barot, a physical therapy assistant from Westland, Michigan, was sentenced today to serve 30 months in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to 1 count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. She was also ordered to pay $1,336,739 in restitution, jointly and severally with […]

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Published on: December 11, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

Abby Pendleton, Esq. and Adrienne Dresevic, Esq. Interviewed and Featured in Motion Magazine’s article, “In Good Health”

Abby Pendleton, Esq. and Adrienne Dresevic, Esq. were interviewed and featured in the December 4, 2012 issue of Motion Magazine in an article titled, “In Good Health”. The article notes that: the firm’s upward trajectory can be traced, in part, to a “strategic decision” to focus on complex health care matters, according to Dresevic and […]

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Published on: December 11, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

CMS Releases Report on Recovery Audit Statistics

CMS has posted on its website the latest RAC statistics. The statistics for the 4th quarter of FY 2012 show CMS collected $648 million in alleged overpayments and returned $46.5 million in underpayments. CMS’ report on the total amounts collected and returned from October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2012, indicates that $3.16 billion in […]

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Published on: December 11, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

2 Brooklyn Physicians Pay the Price for Medicare Fraud

On Monday, December 10, 2012, Boris Sachakov, MD, a colorectal surgeon, was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison for Medicare and private insurance fraud for billing for procedures such as hemorrhoidectomies that he never performed. On June 13, 2012, Dr. Sachakov was found guilty by a jury of one count of health care fraud […]

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Published on: December 6, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD USAGE RISES TO 40%

Nearly 4 in 10 office-based physicians are now using an electronic health-record system with a basic level of functions, according to the latest estimates from an annual federal survey, up from about 1 in 3 a year ago. A basic system was defined as an EHR that could be used for all of the following: […]

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Published on: December 6, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

Feds Collect Record Amount Under False Claims Act

Led by a record-breaking legal settlement with drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, federal collections from civil False Claims Act prosecutions and settlements exceeded all previous years, topping $4.9 billion in the most recent fiscal year. The biggest single chunk–more than $3 billion–came from healthcare companies accused of defrauding Medicare and other government healthcare programs. Fiscal 2012 marked the […]

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Published on: December 5, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

AMA Issues Physician Employment Guidelines

On November 13, 2012, the American Medical Association (“AMA”) House of Delegates issued new guiding principles for physicians entering into employment and contractual arrangements. The six principles issued by the AMA are intended to provide physicians with guidance as to how to handle potentially problematic aspects of the employer-employee relationship and include addressing: (1) conflicts […]

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Published on: November 27, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES REJECTS A REQUEST FOR WAIVER OF THE STARK LAW TO PERMIT SLEEP SPECIALISTS TO DISPENSE MEDICARE CPAP TO THEIR PATIENTS

The Office of Inspector General (“OIG“) has refused to grant a request that Boarded Sleep Physicians be permitted to dispense PAP therapy directly to their own Medicare patients. The OIG’s Semiannual Report to Congress for the period April 1, 2012 – September 30, 2012 (the “Report“) issued on November 27, 2012, contains the following description […]

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Published on: November 27, 2012 | by The Health Law Partners

OIG Releases Semi-Annual Report on Recovery Audits and Investigations

Washington, DC – The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) today announced expected recoveries of about $6.9 billion from audits and investigations in its semi-annual report to Congress. The report focuses on OIG accomplishments for the second half of FY 2012 (April 1, 2012 – September 30, 2012) and […]

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