Fraud and abuse issues facing physicians

A Texas internist with a home health care practice along with two others billed Medicare for more than $40 million in services, including for services that were not rendered or were not necessary.

A Detroit physician billed Medicare for unnecessary opioids and pain-killing back injections. The prosecutor said that over a three-year period, the doctor prescribed for a single patient 2,640 Norco, 100 Percocet, 2,138 Soma, 1,220 Valium pills, and 4,200 doses of Promethazine with codeine.

A New York City doctor took more than $25,000 in payments in exchange for referring patients to a particular laboratory.

Five physicians in a California cardiology practice were accused of performing nuclear stress tests without first determining whether the test were medically necessary (or at least not having a consultation appointment within 30 days of the tests).

For the first three cases, prison sentences were (or are likely to be) imposed. For the fourth case, the cardiologists agreed to settle the case for $1.2 million.

The cases are part of an increased focus by law enforcement on fraud and abuse in health care.

Coordinated enforcement

The federal government takes the lead on many investigations, but it has ample help from state investigators and from insurance companies that alert the government to suspicious billing.

A formal structure has been established to facilitate the coordination: the Healthcare Fraud Prevention Partnership, which includes most major insurance companies as well as the FBI, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Federal laws used to fight fraud and abuse are criminal and civil. Criminal laws include the False Claims Act, health care fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud.

In addition, civil laws are used to impose monetary penalties and to exclude providers from participation in Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs.

Since 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has charged more than 3,000 individuals with fraud. In fiscal year 2016, the federal government collected $3.3 billion as a result of health care fraud judgments, settlements and administrative dispositions. The government says the fraud control program returned $5 for each dollar invested.

Exposure by whistle-blowers

Employees of health care providers also may be part of the mix. Whistle-blower laws give employees—often disgruntled ones—a percentage of the amounts recovered for improper billing.

For example, a nurse employed by a Houston surgical center reported that a gastroenterologist performed many colonoscopies in less than two minutes, failed to follow proper sanitation procedures, and failed to perform procedures necessary to catch cancerous lesions.

The case settled for $1.6 million, and the nurse will receive part of the settlement.

Investigation techniques

One of the government’s tools for enforcement is data analysis, which may include looking for outliers (a process sometimes referred to as “anomaly-detection models”), such as providers who are ordering a substantially larger number of services than would be expected for similar providers.

Investigators also study data from past fraud cases, then program their computers to look for similar patterns.

In addition, CMS applies a “social network analysis” on the “birds of a feather…” theory. Providers should be careful of who their friends are.

If reliable information of an overpayment exists, CMS has authority to suspend Medicare payments to a provider. In FY2016, CMS made 508 suspensions on that basis.

The inspector general says that the Fraud Prevention System (FPS) “is not as effective in preventing fraud, waste and abuse in Medicare as it could be.”

The report suggested the FPS identify aberrant providers more promptly because, by the time action is taken, more overpayments by the government have been made and the providers may have fewer assets from which to collect.

Preventing problems

Physicians, their office managers and billing services can take steps to prevent small problems from becoming big problems. If a government payer or insurance company wants more documentation regarding a claim, respond promptly.

For billing procedures, extra attention should be paid to high-value and high-volume procedures.

If CMS determines that a provider has received an overpayment and a refund to the government is due, payments should be made promptly (generally within 60 days).

If a physician is serving in an administrative or advisory position for a referral source or an entity to which the physician may make referrals, the agreement should be in writing, reflect fair market value, and not be a remuneration in exchange for a referral.