Showing posts with label Columbia/HCA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Columbia/HCA. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Criminal Rick Scott


Rick Scott is like many of today's Republicans in that he belongs in prison. Rick Scott is one of the biggest thieves in the history of the world. Beyond that he's a scumbag that rivals criminal Jeb Bush.
First, Gov. Rick Scott scared the bejesus out of seniors with an online ad claiming that Medicare rate cuts would lead them to lose access to their doctors, hospitals and preventive care.
Then, the Florida Democratic Party fired back at Scott, issuing a press release that called Scott "the ultimate Medicare thief."
The Democrats were referring to Scott’s prior tenure as CEO of Columbia/HCA about a decade ago, when the hospital company was fined $1.7 billion for Medicare fraud.

"Rick Scott is saying Democrats are committing Medicare robbery, when in fact he's the ultimate Medicare thief. He lost the right to accuse Democrats of raiding Medicare when he oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation's history. Rick Scott's company stole money that should have gone to health care for seniors," said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Joshua Karp in the Feb. 25 press release.
Separately, Politifact has fact-checked Scott’s claim "we are seeing dramatic rate cuts" to Medicare that will affect people's choice of doctor, hospital and preventive care. We concluded that Scott had failed to say that the rate cut only applies to Medicare Advantage, and thus only affects a fraction of all Medicare beneficiaries. Also, it could be several months before we know the actual impact of the cut which could vary county by county. We rated Scott's claim Mostly False.
Here, we’ll fact-check the Democratic counter-attack that Scott "oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history."
Scott’s tenure at Columbia/HCA
During Scott’s 2010 race for governor, PolitiFact fact-checked multiple claims related to his tenure at Columbia/HCA. Now, we’ll recap some of our earlier discussion of the investigation and fine.
Scott started what was first Columbia in 1987, purchasing two El Paso, Texas, hospitals. Over the next decade he would add hundreds of hospitals, surgery centers and home health locations. In 1994, Scott’s Columbia purchased Tennessee-headquartered HCA and its 100 hospitals, and merged the companies.
In 1997, federal agents went public with an investigation into the company, first seizing records from four El Paso-area hospitals and then expanding across the country. The investigation focused on whether Columbia/HCA had committed Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
Scott resigned as CEO in July 1997, less than four months after the inquiry became public. Company executives said had Scott remained CEO, the entire chain could have been in jeopardy.
During his 2010 race, the Miami Herald reported that Scott had said he would have immediately stopped his company from committing fraud -- if only "somebody told me something was wrong." But there were such warnings in the company’s annual public reports to stockholders -- which Scott had to sign as president and CEO.

Scott wanted to fight the accusations, but the corporate board of the publicly traded company wanted to settle.
In December 2000, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Columbia/HCA agreed to pay $840 million in criminal fines, civil damages and penalties.
Among the revelations from the 2000 settlement:
• Columbia billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs for tests that were not necessary or had not been ordered by physicians;
• The company attached false diagnosis codes to patient records to increase reimbursement to the hospitals;
• The company illegally claimed non-reimbursable marketing and advertising costs as community education;
• Columbia billed the government for home health care visits for patients who did not qualify to receive them.
The government settled a second series of similar claims with Columbia/HCA in 2002 for an additional $881 million. The total for the two fines was $1.7 billion.
On Scott’s 2010 campaign website, he admitted to the $1.7 billion fine, though the link is no longer on the site.
What type of record was that fine?
The fine clearly set a record, though the Justice Department (and media reports at the time) were not always consistent in their terminology, sometimes describing it as the "largest government fraud settlement in U.S. History" and other times more specifically as the "largest health care fraud case in U.S. History."
A Justice Department spokeswoman said that officials refer to Columbia/HCA as "largest health care fraud" rather than the more narrow term "Medicare fraud" because it involved defrauding other government programs such as Medicaid rather than Medicare exclusively. The Justice Department described in detail the various ways the company defrauded Medicare and other government health programs here.
Here’s a key point, though: While the Columbia/HCA settlement was a record at the time for health care fraud, it has since been surpassed. In cases related to the improper promotion of certain drugs, Johnson & Johnson agreed to a a $2.2 billion settlement in 2013, Pfizer settled for $2.3 billion in 2009, and GlaxoSmithKlinesettled for $3 billion in 2012.
"HCA was the record health care fraud at the time. It’s now Glaxo," Justice Department spokeswoman Linda Mansour told PolitiFact in an email.
That said, these cases were a little different. While the Justice Department’s case against Columbia/HCA repeatedly mentions overbilling and defrauding Medicare and Medicaid specifically, the three newer cases focused on the marketing of drugs, with Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs caught up in the impropriety, rather than being the specific targets of the fraud.
Because the Justice Department press releases explaining the settlements don’t explicitly break down how much of the misconduct in those more recent cases defrauded Medicare explicitly, it’s difficult to make comparisons.
The Pfizer case includes violations relating to misbranding and kickbacks, "so there may be a distinction to be made for that reason when thinking about whether it all should be classified under the very general category of ‘Medicare fraud,’ " said Asha Scielzo, who practices health care law at the firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
The Columbia/HCA case "still is the largest fraud settlement for a hospital corporation in U.S. history," since all the others involved pharmaceutical firms, added Zack Buck, a health care law professor at Mercer. "So I guess, the quote (by the Florida Democratic Party) is a little loose."
The Scott campaign did not respond to an inquiry for this fact-check. However in 2010, Scott told the Tampa Bay Times, "There's no question that mistakes were made and as CEO, I have to accept responsibility for those mistakes. I was focused on lowering costs and making the hospitals more efficient. I could have had more internal and external controls. I learned hard lessons, and I've taken that lesson and it's helped me become a better business person and a better leader."
The Florida Democratic Party said Scott "oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation’s history."
The Columbia/HCA settlement has since been surpassed in dollar value, though the bigger cases involved Medicare somewhat less directly. Because the Democratic Party could have been a bit more specific in its wording -- by saying that Scott oversaw the largest Medicare fraud at the time -- we rate the claim Mostly True.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Largest Criminal Fines




Pfizer Whistleblower Gets Huge Reward

It’s an amazing story and one worth talking about.  Gulf War veteran and former Pfizer sales representative John Kopchinski is getting $51 million dollars as a result of his whistleblowing lawsuit against Pfizer – the world’s biggest drug maker -- and that's big news.
Pfizer to Pay $2.3 Billion for Fraudulent Marketing 
According to a statement from the Justice Department,   Pfizer’s illegal practices in connection with its promotion of an anti-inflammatory drug called  Bextra is what got it into big trouble.

Pfizer also agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve allegations under the civil False Claims Act(also know as Qui Tam).
Under the Act, it is illegal to knowingly present a false or fraudulent claim for payment to the federal government or use a false or fraudulent record to get paid. 

AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!

Read more HERE

Criminal Rick Scott
Rick Scott, who ran a company involved in the nation's largest Medicare fraud case, became Florida's governor

May 20, 2010|By Sally Kestin, Sun Sentinel
It was and still is the biggest Medicare fraud case in U.S. history and ended with the hospital giant Columbia/HCA paying a record $1.7 billion in fines, penalties and damages.
Now the man who ran the company at the time wants to be Florida's governor.
Rick Scott was co-founder and CEO of Columbia/HCA in the 1990s, when the FBI launched a massive, multi-state investigation that led to the company pleading guilty to criminal charges of overbilling the government.
AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!


More Big Pharma Crimes
GlaxoSmithKline $3 billion ($1B crimimal, $2B civil) for the following violations
Criminal: Off-label promotion, failure to disclose safety data.
Civil: paying kickbacks to physicians, making false and misleading
statements concerning the safety of Avandia, reporting false best
prices and underpaying rebates owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program
Pfizer$2.3 billion in finesOff-label promotion/kickbacks
AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!





Abbott Laboratories$1.5 billion in finesOff-label promotion
AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED


Eli Lilly$1.4 billionOff-label promotion

AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED
TAP Pharmaceutical Products$875 millionMedicare fraud/kickbacks


AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED




Johnson's Baby Shampoo Causes Cancer CLICK HERE

When Johnson & Johnson  agreed to pay $2.2 billion in civil and criminal fines last week for invalidly promoting one of its best-selling drugs of the past decade, Risperdal, it marked another victory for the Department of Justice’s campaign to root out off-label marketing. The multibillion settlement came in the wake of several outsized payouts the DOJ has extracted from other pharmaceutical giants in recent years for similar wrongdoing. Despite the gaudy sums, however, it’s unlikely that the industry will curb its reliance on off-label prescriptions. The practice is simply too lucrative to pass up.

AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!

Are you noticing a pattern here? I am not only referring to the fact that none of the corporate gangsters were arrested, I am referring to the fact that the biggest corporate crimes are committed by medical corporations. 

What would you say if 10 of the top 26 pharmaceutical companies had been telling you bold faced lies about the drugs they sell you? Would you be upset? Irritated? Maybe on a good day, bemused? According to 2 papers published by one of the most prestigious medical journals - The New England Journal of Medicine - even seemingly-astronomical fines aren't keeping Big Pharma honest.  READ MORE HERE...

(NaturalNews) In 2012, five pharmaceutical companies agreed to pay nearly $5.5 billion to settle allegations of fraud, including promotion of medicines for uses not approved by the FDA. The settlements represent the continued trend of record-breaking fines, settlements and lawsuits which have become a routine part of doing business for Big Pharma.

Between 2004 and 2010, major drug companies paid out $7 billion in fines, penalties and lawsuits for fraudulently marketing their drugs, making misleading claims about the drugs safety and hiding or altering studies which indicated evidence of harm. The threat of massive payouts does not appear to offer much deterrent.


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/041261_Big_Pharma_settlements_fines.html#ixzz347CF41QH

AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!






Hospitals Are Run By Elite Criminals 

Pacific Health Corporation was involved in the medical billing scam with using the Homeless.image  The corporation pleaded guilty and paid $16.5 million in which 3 of the company hospitals were involved.  Also there’s Anaheim General which was bought by Pacific Health who a few years ago lost and then regained their accreditation.  Here’s a couple back links on the history.
Anaheim General Hospital Up for Sale – Booted The CEO, Got Our Accreditation Back And Are Ready to Start Taking Offers…
Patient Dumping Back in the News – Hospital to Pay fine
AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!


Hospital chain accused of Medicare overbilling - Encore ...

AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!

A billion dollars paid Click HERE 

ECHN suitor paid sum for overbilling, fraud, kickback allegations


The big for-profit hospital chain from Texas negotiating to buy Eastern Connecticut Health Network has paid more than $1 billion over the last decade to settle a series of fraud, overbilling, kickback, and other allegations by its biggest customer: the federal government.
Tenet Healthcare Corp. also agreed to pay more than half as much — $641 million — to settle hundreds of civil lawsuits as well as an additional $80 million to pay back taxes after an IRS audit.
The payments included $395 million to settle unnecessary surgery complaints involving 769 cardiac patients at a California hospital, $215 million to settle federal class-action lawsuits by investors, and $31 million to end lawsuits on behalf of 106 heart surgery patients at a Florida hospital.

The latter said they suffered severe post-operative infections at the hospital that Florida regulators fined $95,000 for improper infection control after 20 patients died.
The six settlements Tenet made since 2003 with the U.S. Justice Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Securities and Exchange Commission pre-empted civil or criminal charges against the company and stopped its facilities from being excluded from the federal Medicare program.
On at least two of those occasions, Tenet made the agreements without admitting liability or wrongdoing.
AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!
AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!
AND NOBODY EVEN GOT ARRESTED!


AND NOBODY EVER GETS ARRESTED! Welcome to Korporate Amerika