Lawsuit Alleges Hospital Operators Paid Kickbacks, Defrauded Medicaid
A whistleblower says two hospital operators paid clinics to direct to their hospitals pregnant mothers living in the U.S. illegally.
The Associated Press: Whistleblower Suit: Hospitals Defrauded Medicaid
Two large hospital operators paid kickbacks to clinics that directed expectant mothers living in the country illegally to their hospitals and filed fraudulent Medicaid claims on those patients, a federal whistleblower lawsuit unsealed Wednesday said (Brumback, 7/31).
In related news -
Center for Public Integrity: Advocates For Nursing Home Reform Push Back Against Proposed Health Watchdog Cuts
[Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel] Levinson's investigative unit, citing major budget and staffing cuts, is scrapping a planned new audit to identify the problem nursing homes and the medicines being misused, an ongoing practice that violates federal rules requiring that patients "be free from unnecessary drugs." That scheduled audit is among several high-profile investigations the OIG is postponing or canceling, including a review of the state insurance exchanges that are set to open later this year as a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (Schulte, 8/1).