Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

Physician Note:

Kentucky Physician Pays Over $300,000 to Settle Double-Billing Allegations

Plus: It's up to you to find out if your employees are excluded from Medicare.

A Kentucky doctor may have shared vials of infusion drugs between patients, but he didn't share the savings with Medicare, the Department of Justice alleges.

The physician, who owned a Bone and Joint practice, agreed to pay $349,860 to settle overbilling allegations this week after a former employee alleged that he split vials of rheumatoid arthritis drug Infliximab across multiple patients, but billed Medicare as if he used a whole vial for each patient.

The physician must also pay attorney fees and expenses of the former employee who blew the whistle on his wrongdoing. The whistleblower will also get a $70,000 payment as her "relator's share" of the settlement.

To read more about this case, visit www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/September/11-civ-1260.html.