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DME Fraud Claims Settled

DME Fraud Claims Settled

Published by: Melissa Clark, CCS-P on October 10, 2005

DME Fraud Claims Settled

AdminaStar Federal Inc. agreed to pay six million dollars to the federal government due to medical billing fraud allegations. This durable medical equipment company allegedly overcharged Medicare and intervened with their Medicare evaluations. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services hopes this settlement gives the warning to all that medical billing fraud is not acceptable among their contractors.

AdminaStar Federal Inc. was uncovered by two whistle blower medical billing lawsuits. They were in Indianapolis and fell under the False Claims Act. Apparently from 1991-1998, the medical billing employees at AdminaStar knowingly changed claim information. They also would hang up on customers just to appear to have a better company evaluation score for Medicare operations evaluations.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services decided that they were not going to sit back and let these fraudulent medical billing practices go on any further. Their hope is that the $6 million settlement will ensure that other contractors will not perform in the same way.

Fraud not only hurts the economy, but also hurts the medical practice in question. Fraud is illegal and anyone caught in a fraudulent act will be prosecuted and fined. After fraud allegations, no one will visit your medical practice if billing practices are questionable.

Medical billing firms can assist your practice in keeping you honest. They are aware of the rules and regulations of the billing system. Their business is to make sure your practice makes as much money as possible in an honest manner. Hiring a medical billing firm can also assist with fraud issues because many times payers do not send money directly to them. This makes it very difficult for an individual to orchestrate a fraud scheme. Medical billing is a difficult process that should only be done by honest people.

Published by: on October 10, 2005

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