Amedisys is committing fraud!!!!

Discussion in 'Amedisys' started by Anonymous, Oct 3, 2011 at 11:57 AM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Baucus, Grassley Uncover Gaming of the Medicare System by For-Profit Home Health Companies

    Finance Senators Release Report Showing Companies Intentionally Increased Frequency of Home Health Visits to Manipulate Reimbursement Rates

    Washington, DC – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and senior Finance Committee Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today released a Finance Committee staff report showing tactics used by major for-profit home health companies to game Medicare. The result has been waste of taxpayer dollars and the delivery of what could be medically-unnecessary patient care to increase the companies’ profits. Baucus and Grassley initiated the investigation into the improper practices as part of the Committee’s oversight role of the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the Senators’ ongoing commitment to protect patients and taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud and abuse.

    “The gaming of Medicare represents serious abuse of the home health program,” said Baucus. “Elderly patients in the Medicare system should not be used as pawns to increase a company’s profits. Especially in these tough economic times, taxpayers simply cannot afford for their dollars to be wasted on unnecessary care. We are going to continue to crack down on these companies to ensure taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and Medicare patients are protected.”

    “The reimbursement policy encourages gaming, and gaming is what’s occurred. Companies are doing everything they can to make as much money as possible, whether the patients need the care or not. The federal government needs to fix the policy that lets Medicare money flow down the drain. This can’t wait until tomorrow. It should have been done yesterday. The longer this kind of policy continues, the more Medicare’s budget balloons, and the bigger the burden on taxpayers,” Grassley said.

    In May 2010, Baucus and Grassley began their investigation into home health therapy practices at Amedisys, LHC Group, Gentiva, and Almost Family in response to a media report that these home health companies took advantage of the Medicare therapy payment system by providing medically-unnecessary patient care.

    The Committee staff report released today examines documents provided by the companies which show how therapists were encouraged to target the most profitable number of therapy visits, even when patient need may not have required such visits. In addition, therapy visit records for each company showed concentrated numbers of therapy visits at or just above the point at which a “bonus” payment was triggered by the Medicare program.

    Internal documents from three of the four companies, Amedisys, LHC Group and Gentiva, provided evidence of top-down strategies to game Medicare. Highlights from the report include:
    •Managers encouraged therapists to meet a 10-visit target that would have increased their payments from Medicare.
    •An “A-Team” tasked with developing programs to target the most profitable Medicare therapy treatment patterns.
    •Therapists and regional managers that were pressured to follow new clinical guidelines developed to maximize Medicare reimbursements.
    •Top managers instructed employees to increase the number of therapy visits provided in order to increase case mix and revenue.
    •A competitive ranking system for management aimed at driving therapy visit patterns toward profitable levels.
    •Evidence that management discussed increasing therapy visits and expanding specialty programs to increase revenue.

    The Medicare Part A program pays out an estimated $19 billion yearly for home health care. Fraud, waste and abuse in the health care system cost Americans an estimated $60 billion a year, approximately three percent of total health care spending.

    Baucus and Grassley have led numerous major investigations of the health care industry to protect consumers and taxpayer dollars. Earlier this year, when their investigation found that the drug company Sanofi interfered in the approval of generic alternatives to its blood-thinner drug Lovenox, the Finance leaders called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help guarantee consumers have access to affordable generic medications. Last December, Baucus and Grassley released a report detailing the relationship between Abbott labs and a Maryland doctor who allegedly implanted nearly 600 unnecessary cardiac stents into his patients, costing the federal government as much as $3.8 million in overpayments. The specific stent case highlighted in the Senators’ report is indicative of a widespread, national problem of unnecessary stenting. The Senators also spearheaded a two year inquiry which revealed undisclosed side effects of the diabetes drug Avandia. This resulted in the FDA restricting use of the drug, ensuring that patients and doctors have the information they need to make safe, informed decisions about their medication.

    The Committee’s full report is available here.
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I hope Billy Bob rots in jail for bilking the system...greedy bastard. I sat in many a meetings with AVP's of BD & Ops and listened to them instruct our physical therapists to add visits regardless of need!! Serves this company right...hope they never see another referral!!!
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    If there is a lord above, not the one Billy Boy prays too, these men will go to jail.
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    •An “A-Team” tasked with developing programs to target the most profitable Medicare therapy treatment patterns.

    This basically describes BFL, or as I like to call it Big Friggin' Lie
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    you mean the fl team-fucking lying team. hope ole billy bob goes to the slammer.
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Hope dey gots sum good 'ol crawdads and gumbo in da prison system for 'ol Billy Bob and dem cronies o his!!! Yeee-Haw!!!!! Mebe 'ol fat boy Jeter can save dem cajun beehinds from doin hard time....Whooooo weeeeee!!! Pass dem crawdads!!!! Hallalujah!!!
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    LHS Group paid the federal gov't. 65M for their wrong doing. I am hoping A Mess it is pays a lot more. Now pass me them there crawdads and corn bread son....don't forget about that moon shine. yea haaaaaaaaaaa.....
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    65million is a drop in the bucket compared to how much Amessitis has stolen from the government. Hope they get hit with a much bigger fine...maybe putting BB behind bars. He knew what he was doing and that it was wrong.

    BTW, whatever happened to Larry Graham?
     
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    no idea. sitting on a tropical island laughing about the whole thing. SOB.
     
  10. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    We all hope you and your asshole boss "Billie Bob" go the State Penn together!!!!

    Bunch of fucking crooks!!!!!

    The only "Crawdaddy" you will see is the one crawling up your ass from your cellmate!!!

    Remember they arrest "reps" now as well!

    Enjoy!
     
  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    No they don't.
     
  12. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I don't see any reps being arrested unless they are handing over money or really nice gifts for referrals. Even then it wouldn't lead to an arrest.
     
  13. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    SCUMBAGS!!!!!!!!
     
  14. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Larry Graham is the CEO of a hospice company called Curo Health Services. And has locations out west and all in the southeast under a LLC called Regency Healthcare Group. Is he under investigation?
     
  15. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest


    no he is not. He was the brain surgeon who decided to grow way to fast by creating all of these offices which eventually closed down. Stupid ass!
     
  16. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Of course he is. And AA, BB, JJ, DR, BoD, TM, TF, PH, and so on and on and on!
     
  17. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Red Flag #3: The Significance Of Alice Schwartz’s resignation to Amedisys

    Why is the departure of a Chief Information Officer relevant to Amedisys shareholders? For most companies, the CIO isn’t even on investors’ radar, so what’s the deal here?

    The answer lies in the recipe for Amedisys’s “secret sauce” – their proprietary laptop-based Point of Care information system. Former employees have consistently reported to Citron that the laptop-based Point Of Care program, in which every healthcare staffer records every patient visit, is specifically designed to prompt workers to skew their Oasis scoring for higher reimbursement. It is Citron’s opinion that this explains why Amedisys’s margins are the highest in the industry, not that their patients are “sicker” than their competitors’.

    Numerous employees have told Citron that they feel pressured by the continuous automatic computer prompts in Amedisys’s POC system to change their scores on the Oasis reports they submit.

    It is going to be interesting once auditors realize it is the POC system’s rule-base which exerts influence on thousands of health-care practitioners, who are bound by onerous employee contracts and subject to being fired if they “cause trouble”.
    So who knows the design and architecture of the rule-base better than anyone? Who oversaw its system specifications, development, implementation, training, scalability and all the “enhancements” over the last eleven years? That would be the Chief Information Officer, who resigned as described above. Considering the intensified fraud audits the company is now subjected to, investors should wonder: Is it just getting too hot in the kitchen? It should be noted that Alice Schwartz did not leave for a new job and her compensation at Amedisys was not of a scale to put her on the fast track to retirement.
     
  18. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I hope one day that all of these crooks get what is coming to them! I would cherish the idea of ole billy bob in an prison jumpsuit!
     
  19. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    It is obvious that these posts are from disgruntled employees. It is a shame that a vary good company is getting ran through the ringer because of ignorant people who would rather make up their own version of the truth than learn the real facts. Amedisys is a very ethical and resilient company that has held its head high and not lowered itself to the level of incompetent trouble makers.
     
  20. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Amedisys has committed NO fraud!!!

    Amedisys has committed NO fraud. You would know this had you actually read any of the reports. Being the largest home care company in the USA it is apt to stay in the spotlight. The tallest tree in the forest is the easiest seen. Instead of blowing hot air, why don't you talk to those who really matter...the patients who have been held as the highest and utmost priority. They will tell you a different story; one of being cared for come snow, sleet or hail, patients whose lives Amedisys has changed because they gave exceptional care. It is absurd that Amedisys has been under attack!!