In a recent report, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that suppliers improperly billed Medicare for more expensive diabetes test strips.
The study focused on practices that included (1) improperly billing mail order items as non-mail order and (2) inappropriately waiving beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket expenses (i.e., co-payments).
According to the report, for 20 percent of the beneficiaries under review, suppliers improperly billed Medicare for the more expensive, non-mail order diabetes test strips in 2011, but beneficiaries reported receiving instead the less expensive, mail order diabetes test strips.
A complete copy of this report can be found here:
https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-04-11-00760.pdf.
The United States Department of Justice aggressively pursues companies that improperly bill Medicare for diabetic supplies. An example of this policy protecting taxpayer funds is reflected in the government’s case against Ammed Direct LLC, a False Claims Act lawsuit in which Barrett Law Office, PLLC represented the whistleblower.
For more information on this case, please see the following press release from the Department of Justice: “Ammed Direct LLC to Pay $18 Million to United States and Tennessee to Resolve False Claims Allegations”. (http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/April/12-civ-474.html)