Intelligence Unit
Special Reports
Special Events
Subscribe
Sponsored
Departments
- Leadership
- Finance
- Technology
- Physicians
- Community Hospitals
- Health Plans
- Marketing
- Quality
- Nursing
- HR
Follow Us
OIG Slams Medicare for Wheelchair Reimbursements, Again
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, said the OIG report "raises some troubling questions and shows all too clearly that while the federal government has made some progress in preventing waste and fraud, much more remains to be done."
He added, "When we see that more than half of Medicare's payments for power wheelchairs in a given time failed to meet the appropriate standards required for reimbursement, we know that something is very wrong and that the federal government can and must do better."
Carper's bill, co-authored with Sen. Tom Coburn, MD, (R-OK) calls for improvements in screening measures to prevent fraud and abuse.
Medicare Spent Four Times More for Power Wheelchairs Than Suppliers
OIG: Medicare Paid $112M for Improperly Documented Power Wheelchair Claims
Cheryl Clark is senior quality editor and California correspondent for HealthLeaders Media. She is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists.
- $6.4B Henry Ford, Beaumont Merger Failed on Cultural Hurdles
- Fortunately, Angelina Jolie Isn't On Medicare
- House Lawmakers Grill CMS Over Health Exchange Navigators
- Don't Let Nurses Sink Your Bottom Line
- How Chargemaster Data May Affect Hospital Revenue
- Uncompensated Care Faces a Double Hit in Some States
- Hospital Pricing Transparency a Marketing Game Changer
- Primary Care Docs Average More Hospital Revenue Than Specialists
- ED Physicians Key to Half of Hospital Admissions
- Hospitals Profit On Bloodstream Infections
Comments are moderated. Please be patient.
Prafull Shah (7/8/2011 at 3:33 PM)
With scooter and wheelchair hawkers on TV , e-mail and other media, showing scooter-bound persons practically "dancing" in their wheelchair tauting "and it didn't cost me a dime", what would you expect? These are the most outrageous and boldest advertisements for items that are meant to be "required" for medical reasons, not for joyrides! I am glad that Feds are now capturing these bandits. Should have happened long time ago. In the mean time, many such con-artists have become millionaires.
Prafull S. (7/8/2011 at 12:33 PM)
Just the propensity of scooters and powerchairs suppliers to have massive budget for TV and e-mail media blitz uabashingly advertizing that it will "Not cost you a dime", and the ever-growing number of such hawkers should alert anyone that this must be a very lucrative business to be in.