Posts Tagged 'medicare'

Nursing Homes Show Lack of Safety Compliance

Despite heightened scrutiny of nursing home conditions in recent years, new data shows that many of these institutions are not complying with established safety standards in the industry. After an August 2013 deadline for sprinkler installation, data shows that 385 facilities in 39 states failed to meet safety requirements. This comes after a long history of nursing home fires, according to a recent Telegram.com article.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), manages nursing ...

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Federal Government is no Longer Disclosing Many Hospital Errors to the Public

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made a change this month to stop the disclosure of many serious hospital errors and health risks to the public. A story in USA Today reports that the data on eight “hospital-acquired” conditions were removed from the Centers’ web site.

Prior to this change, the Hospital Compare website allowed the general public to access data on the rate of hospital-acquired infections and injuries. Last ...

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Federal Charges Brought Against Hilton Head Hospital Executive in Kickback Scheme

The vice president of business development at Hilton Head Hospital is facing federal charges for involvement in a scheme to pay kickbacks to augment Medicare reimbursement. An article in The State reports that the hospital was allegedly paying a prenatal clinic called Clinica de la Mama to refer clients to the hospital. These referrals were specifically for deliveries that are covered by Medicaid.

The purpose of the clinic was to serve uninsured and undocumented women. The scheme allegedly ...

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Kickback scheme causes Novartis Pharmaceuticals to face lawsuit

State and federal prosecutors are pursuing a lawsuit against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. for paying kickbacks to BioScrip pharmacy. A story in The Wall Street Journal reports that Novartis incentivized BioScrip to recommend refills of its blood transfusion drug, Exjade.

In order to boost sales of Exjade, Novartis provided referrals and rebates to the specialty pharmacy. BioScrip encouraged refills for patients who may not have needed it in exchange for these kickbacks. Exjade is an ...

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Boston Scientific Corp. and Guidant Agree to $30 Million Settlement for Knowingly Selling Defective Heart Devices to Medicare Patients

defective ventak and renewal devices sold to medicare patients by Boston ScientificBoston Scientific Corp. and its subsidiary, Guidant, will pay $30 million to settle allegations that Guidant knowingly sold defective heart devices that were implanted in Medicare patients between 2002 and 2005.

In a civil action filed by the United States Department of Justice on January 27, 2011, the DOJ alleged that Guidant knowingly sold defective implantable defibrillators. These devices are surgically implanted into patients’ chests to ...

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