Transcript for audio podcast:
June 2016 OIG Update
From the Office of Inspector General of Department of Health and Human Services
Welcome to one of a continuing series of podcasts highlighting the work of the Office of Inspector General.
This is Mike Kane, inviting you to follow us on our website (oig.hhs.gov) and on Twitter (@OIGatHHS).
OIG and its federal and state partners arrested a record 301 suspects in a nationwide healthcare fraud takedown. The suspects were accused of Medicare and Medicaid fraud approaching $1 billion dollars. Unprecedented federal-state cooperation and the use of advanced data analytics were critical in the operation. More than 1,000 law enforcement personnel, including over 350 OIG special agents, made arrests from Alaska to Florida. For more information, visit the OIG website.
OIG issued an Early Alert to the Food and Drug Administration -- a preliminary finding from our ongoing audit of FDA's food recall program. OIG found that FDA did not have an efficient and effective food recall initiation process that helps ensure the safety of the nation's food supply. Consumers were at risk of illness or death for weeks after FDA knew of potentially hazardous food, OIG determined. For more information, visit our website.
Don't miss OIG's fiscal year 2016 Work Plan update! It's on our website now.
Check out OIG's latest Eye on Oversight: A look at home health fraud. Visit our website to watch the video.
OIG's Caryl Brzymialkiewicz, Assistant Inspector General and Chief Data Officer, discusses the role data plays in fighting fraud, waste and abuse in healthcare. Don't miss the podcast; it's on our website. And don't miss an interview the Chief Data Officer did with Bloomberg/BNA. It, too, is posted on the OIG website.
Genentech and OSI Pharmaceuticals are to pay $67 million dollars to settle allegations that they made misleading statements about the effectiveness of the cancer drug Tarceva.
Salix Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharma company, is to pay $54 million dollars to settle civil allegations that it paid doctors to induce them to prescribe the firm's products. Salix admitted using so-called "speaker programs" as a mechanism to pay kickbacks to physicians.
A New York nursing home and its owners are to pay $28 million dollars in a civil settlement aimed at improving patient care. The settlement, which includes a $10 million dollar repayment to Medicaid, comes after years of patient neglect and staff cuts, authorities said.
A Maryland healthcare provider was imprisoned for 10 years in a $6 million dollar Medicare/Medicaid fraud scheme that led to two patient deaths. The patients died because X-rays were not interpreted by a qualified radiologist. The case included bogus services, forgery, false reports and false billing. Separately, the vice president of the company was jailed for four years for masquerading as a licensed radiologist or physician.
A couple who owned a home health agency in Washington, D.C., were sentenced to 10 and 7 years and must forfeit and repay tens of millions of dollars. The former nurse and her husband were convicted of leading an $80 million dollar scam to bill Medicaid for services that were not fully provided. The fraud funded a lavish lifestyle that included a $1.3 million dollar house and vehicles that cost over $400,000 dollars.
The former owner of HIV/AIDS clinics in New York City was sent to prison for more than five years in a $12 million dollar Medicare fraud scheme that included kickbacks, bogus services and false billing.
Another clinic owner was charged with bilking Medicaid out of $5 million dollars in a false claims case. Authorities said the man lured thousands of low-income New Yorkers to his clinic with promises of affordable housing, then subjected them to medical tests that they didn't need.
Pharmaceutical sales representatives and managers were charged in New York with paying physicians thousands of dollars to prescribe millions of dollars worth of Fentanyl.
A former CEO-physician and a drug testing laboratory in Tennessee are to pay $9.35 million dollars to settle civil allegations of false Medicare claims. The physician agreed to a 5-year exclusion from
A neurologist in New Jersey surrendered his medical license after being arrested on prescription narcotic charges. Authorities allege that the doctor prescribed narcotics to undercover investigators posing as patients.
A licensed professional counselor in Missouri was charged in a $600,000 dollar Medicaid fraud case. Authorities allege, among other things, that the woman billed for more than 24 hours of counseling services on a single day on 101 different days.
Former OIG Most Wanted fugitive Ubert Guillermo Rodriguez was imprisoned for 37 months in a $2.5 million dollar Medicare fraud scheme in Florida.
For links to these reports and stories and more, go to our website or follow us on Twitter.
And for more on the fight against health care fraud, waste and abuse, click "More News" on the podcast webpage.
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