Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement
Medically Unnecessary Surgeries Bring Major Penalties
Not only is performing medically inappropriate surgery on your patients morally wrong, it’s Medicare fraud when you bill the procedures to the government. Scoop: Spokane, Washington-based former neurosurgeon Jason A. Dreyer agreed to pay the government more than $1.17 million to resolve Medicare, Medicaid, and other fraud charges for allegedly performing medically unnecessary neurosurgery procedures on patients from 2013 to 2018. This is the second financial penalty Dreyer has garnered as Providence Health & Services Washington (Providence), the hospital he worked at, already paid the feds more than $22 million in April 2022 to resolve the alleged surgeries he and another surgeon performed, a Department of Justice (DOJ) release noted. “Patients with spinal injuries and back pain deserve top-notch care from a doctor who puts patients and their safety first,” said Vanessa R. Waldref, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington in the DOJ release. “Significantly, as part of the settlement, Dr. Dreyer has agreed to voluntarily exclude himself from federal health care programs nationwide for at least nine years. This settlement will therefore make sure that patients, in Eastern Washington and nationwide, are protected from medically unnecessary and unsafe procedures for many years to come.” View the case details at www.justice.gov/usao-edwa/pr/former-physician-pay-more-11-million-resolve-allegations-he-performed-medically.
Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement
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Medically Unnecessary Surgeries Bring Major Penalties
Not only is performing medically inappropriate surgery on your patients morally wrong, it’s Medicare fraud [...]
