Owner and Operator of Florida Durable Medical Equipment Company Convicted of Medi...(stifiedduring trial that Smith paid him ...),Health

Date:8/31/2007

stified during trial that Smith paid him $150 per month to use his Medicare card and to obtain phony prescriptions in his name that were ultimately provided to the pharmacy. Lily's Pharmacy fraudulently billed Medicare more than $271,000 using the phony prescriptions for compounded aerosol medications provided by Smith. In exchange, Smith received more than $81,000 in kickbacks.

In 2006, the Medicare program paid for over $155 million worth of aerosol medications in Miami-Dade County alone. These drugs amassed the single most common item billed to Medicare Part B and accounted for over 32 percent of all claims filed with the Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (DMERC) in Miami-Dade County. From 2005 to 2006, claims for aerosol medications rose approximately 115 percent. According to Medicare data, Miami-Dade County alone accounted for more paid DME claims than every state in the country except California, Texas, New York, Michigan, and Ohio.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that it will no longer pay for compounded aerosol, as it has concluded that such drugs are medically unnecessary. Trial testimony established that compounding was done for the sole purpose of defrauding Medicare, and the prescriptions were predetermined before any of the over 1,000 beneficiaries at Lily's saw a physician or received a prescription. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force led by Department of Justice prosecutors has focused on driving these compounding pharmacies out of the Medicare fraud business as the losses to Medicare are extreme and the risk to patients are enormous.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Chief John Kelly and Trial Attorney Hank Walther of the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division, with investigative assistance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, and the FBI. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force is led by Deputy Chief Kirk Ogrosky of the Fraud Section, and supervised by
'/>"/>

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice Copyright©2007 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

0 GOOD

Page: 1 2 3
Related medicine news :

1. Poultry Owner Comes Up With Novel Idea To Boost Up Chicken Sales
2. Massive Culling Of Poultry Forces Farm Owner To Commit Suicide
3. Missing Medical Store Owners Body Found
4. Misconceptions About Pet Owners Health Condition Revealed
5. Pet Owners Less Healthy: Study Unveils
6. Dog Owners Definitely Healthier
7. Cat Owners at Risk of Bird Flu
8. Support Claims With Science Not Magic, Beverage Owners Warned
9. Club and Bar Owners may Sell Laughing Gas at Their Own Risk
10. Dog Owners More Active, Leaner
11. Health Benefits Of Traditional Land Ownership