The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued an interesting report in September that analyzed civil and criminal healthcare fraud cases.  The report is based on 2010 data from the various agencies in the federal government charged with investigating and pursuing healthcare fraud.  For purposes of this blog entry, I’m going to focus on some key numbers on the civil side. 

In 2010, the government investigated a total of 10,187 “subjects.”  Subjects included entities such as hospitals, medical clinics, and pharmacies, as well as individuals that provide services at these entities.

  • Of the 10,187 subjects investigated, 2,339 of the subjects were related to civil investigations, rather than criminal investigations.
  • Of the 2,339 civil investigations, nearly 20% of these were hospitals.  Medical centers or clinics made up another almost 18% of the total 2,339 civil investigations.
  • Of the total 2,339 civil investigations, the government actually pursued cases against 1,087.
  • Of the 1,087 civil cases the government pursued, the government either settled with, or won a judgment against, 55% of these subjects.
  • Of the 55% civil cases that either settled or resulted in a judgment for the government, 44% of these subjects were hospitals or medical facilities (medical practices or clinics).

These numbers are interesting because it shows that hospital or medical facilities make up over one third of all civil investigations and almost half of all settlements.  It is also interesting to look at the number of investigations that were based on qui tam filings.  A qui tam is a civil False Claims Act case brought by a private citizen, “relator” or “whistleblower,” on behalf of the government.  Once a case is filed, the Department of Justice and the Office of Inspector General are charged with investigating and making a determination about whether the government should pursue the case by becoming a party to the litigation.  In many cases, if the government believes the allegations have merit, the government will attempt to settle before actually litigating.

The Director of the Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”), Leon Rodriquez, has made clear that he “absolutely” plans to continue the office’s ongoing efforts to ramp up enforcement of HIPAA with resolution agreements, civil monetary penalties and other enforcement actions.  He has emphasized that privacy and security are issues that “really matter to me personally…

Husch Blackwell welcomes Associate Wakaba Y. Tessier to the firm’s Healthcare group in St. Louis. Tessier has concentrated her practice in healthcare law since obtaining her J.D. in 2009, and prior to that worked in the healthcare industry for a pharmaceutical consulting firm.

Husch Blackwell’s Healthcare team continues to expand with Tessier as the fifth addition to the group this year. Emily Park joined the Jefferson City office in September upon receiving her J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law. Kansas City Partner and former Health and Human Services Senior Counsel Brian Bewley, along with St. Louis Associate Kimela West, joined the firm in July. West had practiced at another firm in St. Louis where her clientele included a major health system with more than 20 hospitals, home health agencies and assisted living facilities. Initiating the hiring trend was Former Hospital Risk Management Director Tina Boschert, who joined the Kansas City office in May.

The American Health Lawyers Association (”AHLA”) noted today the following:  CMS Launches Initiative To Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations Among Nursing Home Residents 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced September 27 cooperative agreement awards to implement a new initiative aimed at reducing avoidable hospitalizations among nursing facility residents.

The awards to seven organizations—Alabama Quality…

On September 25, 2012, two members of the Husch Blackwell Healthcare team, Brian Bewley and David Pursell, presented a webinar discussing:

  • An overview of Stark
  • Stark overpayment reporting requirements
  • Steps to take after discovering a potential Stark violation

As former Senior Counsel in the Office of Inspector General for Health and Human Services and…

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) passed new and consolidated rules on October 14, 2012. According to the OIG’s counsel, the new rules increase the likelihood of litigation, increase revenue for the state, lower the State fiscal burden and increase the State’s ability to exercise a sanction on providers.
On December 1, 2011…

The heads of both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent a joint letter on Monday, September 24, to five hospital industry groups, including the American Hospital Association, threatening to prosecute providers that use electronic health records (EHR) to “game” the system and improperly obtain federal monies for…

In less than two weeks, CMS will begin reducing a hospital’s Medicare reimbursements by as much as 1% if the hospital’s readmission rates are too high.  This reduction is part of a program authorized by the Affordable Care Act called the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.  You can read more about the program CMS’s website.

Nearly 1…

In August, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report describing inappropriate and questionable billing by home health agencies.  The OIG conducted the study because recent investigations and studies showed that home health agencies are vulnerable to fraud, abuse, and waste.  The OIG identified inappropriate claims by examining claims data from home health, inpatient hospital, and skilled nursing facilities.  The OIG also looked at HHAs that billed unusually high amounts according to at least one of its six measures of questionable billing.  The report determined that Medicare inappropriately paid $5M for home health claims with three specific errors in 2010.  To read the report, click here.

Attorney Elizabeth Hogue prepared a concise, helpful summary of the report as follows:

The OIG issued Report OEI-04-11-00240 in August, 2012, entitled “Inappropriate and Questionable Billing by Medicare Home Health Agencies.” Unlike some other guidance published the OIG, this Report provides detailed information about inappropriate and questionable billing practices by home health agencies (HHA’s). Specifically, the OIG concluded that HHA billing is questionable or unusually high on the six measures below, if greater than the 75th percentile plus 1.5 times the interquartile range. The six measures are as follows:

 1. High average outlier payment amounts per beneficiary

According to the OIG, HHA’s with outlier payments above $403 per beneficiary have unusually high outlier payments and are likely engaging in questionable billing practices.