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False Claims Act Update & Alert |
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Taxpayers
Against Fraud Education Fund | Washington, D.C. |
WWW.TAF.ORG
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n TAF Home Page n Previous Newsletters n Email editor
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 "Theft Is
Our Business Plan"Citibank has agreed to pay $3.5 million in damages and civil penalties to the state of California for unilaterally, and without notice, employing a computerized “credit sweep” to automatically remove positive credit card balances from credit-card accounts in cases where goods were returned or double-billed. A Citibank executive said, “Stealing from our customers is a business decision, not a legal decision.” >> To read more |
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 Stryker Whines
About "Harassment"After stealing millions of dollars from the American people by double billing Medicare and Medicaid, the Stryker Corporation is now suing two federal agencies claiming Uncle Sam is using subpoenas to "harass" the company as part of a continuing investigation. >> To read more |
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 Wellcare
Pays
$35.2 Million WellCare Health Plans Inc. has agreed to pay $35.2 million as part of a Medicaid fraud investigation but, as the company noted in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the payment does not settle or limit the continuing investigation. Bottom line: expect more payments to be forthcoming. >> To read more |
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 Best
Case Title
of the WeekIn United States v. Bastardo (S.D.N.Y., No. 08-CR-623) eight defendants are charged with defrauding Medicaid through alleged schemes involving New York City pharmacies. The scheme involved paying Medicaid patients for their paper prescriptions, dispensing no medicine, and then pocketing the Medicaid reimbursement amount. |
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 CMS
Lied About
Paring Fraud
Back in 2006, we reported that the Office of the Inspector General of HHS concluded that Medicare "Program Safeguard Contractors" could quantify little more than their own bills. Now the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been lying to Congress and the American people about the success (or lack thereof) of the Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program, which employs private companies on a contingent-fee basis to identify and recover improper over and under-payments of Medicare funds. Medicare auditors were told not to compare invoices from salespeople against doctors’ records, as required by law, in order to make sure that medical equipment went to actual patients. As a result, Medicare did not detect about one third of all improper spending on wheelchairs, oxygen supplies and other medical equipment in 2006 -- a $2.8 billion waste of taxpayer dollars. >> To read more |
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