Holland & Hart Healthcare Law Blog

Clink Awaits Record Shirking Shrink.

Maria Carmen Palazzo, M.D., PhD., MMM, will soon have some numbers to add to the letters behind her name as she likely will find herself behind bars for Medicare Fraud and for criminal failure as a clinical investigator to maintain records of clinical drug studies.  The New Orleans psychiatrist contracted with SmithKline Beecham to participate in clinical drug studies related the safety of Paxil in the treatment of children and adolescents with major depressive disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders. She failed to comply with the study protocols and failed to personally review all of the information in the patient charts. She apparently accepted about $5000.00 per study, for some patients at least who were never diagnosed with the conditions.

RECOVERY AUDIT CONTRACTORS (RAC) RETURN MARCH 1.

 They’re back!!!. After a brief intermission to allow the Government Accounting Office to deal with challenges to contract awards, the Government is again gearing up for the 50 state roll out of the Recovery Audit Contract Program where contingent fee contractors get to rummage through the records of hospitals, physicians, DME suppliers  and other Medicare suppliers to see if they can enrich themselves on the identification and recovery of Medicare overpayments going back 4 years.  The wildly successful six state pilot recoupment program implemented in New York, California, Florida, Arizona,  South Carolina and Massachusetts will be extended to a wider group of states divided into 4 regions, artfully described as A, B,C & D. From 2005 to 2008, the pilot contractors earned themselves a hefty $187,000.000.00 on $1.03,000, 000,000. in identified overpayments based upon their contingency ratios of 9 to 12.5%..

California Charges Colorado Telemedicine Doctor with Crime.

On April 20, 2009, the People v. Hageseth is scheduled to commence trial in San Mateo, California. The Defendant, Christian Hageseth, M.D., a physician formerly licensed in Colorado is charged with violation of Section 2052 of California’s Business and Professional Code, which prohibits the practice of medicine in California without a license.  In June, 2005, Dr. Hageseth provided an on line prescription for generic Prozac to a depressed Stanford student, John McKay, who later killed himself by carbon monoxide poison while intoxicated. Traces of the Prozac were also found in his blood stream.

Evil In Contamination of Food and Medicine.

It is hard not to applaud the Chinese for their decision to execute officials for the contamination of milk sold domestically and abroad, even for those generally opposed to the death penalty. Unfortunately, the Chinese may have been motivated more by the impact of the unfavorable publicity than real concern about the larger moral evil lurking like a cancer in the cells of commerce. Two articles appearing in the New York Times today underscore the metastasis of that evil in the world community. One story involves Nigeria and the other the United States.

Exclusive Anethesia Arrangement Fails Personal Services Exemption Under Stark.

Normally, anesthesia services contracts do not receive a lot of scrutiny with respect to Stark or Anti-kickback Statute ("AKS") compliance. Recently, the federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals had a chance to review and reverse a summary judgment granted in favor of a hospital and its anesthesia providers who claimed that they were protected by the "personal services" exemption from Stark and the AKS. The Plaintiff in the Qui Tam lawsuit, United States  ex. rel. Kosenske v. Carlisle HMA, Inc., 3rd. Cir.,No. 07-4616, 2009), was a member of the anesthesia group which entered into an exclusive contract with the Carlisle Hospital for anesthesia services. The hospital provided free space and services to the anesthesia group, which is not an uncommon practice because that is generally considered part of the "arms length"negotiation price for the anesthesia services.