A former Vietnam War combat surgeon has been acquitted of healthcare fraud charges in what his lawyer said was a case of being prosecuted for working too efficiently. A federal court jury decided Monday that Wallace P. Berkowitz, MD, 67, of St. Louis, was not guilty of one count of healthcare fraud and 19 counts of making false statements. A Jan. 7 indictment alleged that in 2003-08, Berkowitz billed for procedures he had not performed, and overstated the time he spent with patients. Defense lawyer Steve Welby said Tuesday that allegations of overbilling were false. "We presented all these documents showing that he did exactly what he said he did," Welby explained. "He had to learn how to be fast. He had to learn how to be efficient and get the job done. Just because he can do it faster doesn't mean he shouldn't get paid the same as other doctors," Welby said. He noted that even a prosecution witness said, "If he does the exam, he can bill for the time." After the trial, Welby said, one juror approached and 'said that he didn't have the authority to do this, but apologized for what they were trying to do to Dr. Berkowitz.",
It seems entirely obvious: Doctors need to apologize for their errors, even if the patient didn't suffer irreparable harm. But in the real world of medicine, acknowledging responsibility is a dicey proposition. To most physicians it's tantamount to handing your head to a lawyer on a surgical tray. This fear of lawsuits is so potent that even the most ethical physicians want to clam up when issues of medical error arise. Apologies can often be considered evidence of fault. Depending on the state, there are some protections for apologies that express sympathy, but there is variation as to whether this extends to apologies that invoke responsibility for an error. Typically, the most that doctors can muster is, "I'm so sorry this happened."
Americans are continuing to get fatter and fatter, with obesity rates reaching 30 percent or more in nine states last year, as opposed to only three states in 2007, health officials reported on Tuesday. The increases mean that 2.4 million more people became obese from 2007 to 2009, bringing the total to 72.5 million, or 26.7% of the population. The numbers are part of a continuing and ominous trend. But the rates are probably underestimates because they are based on a phone survey in which 400,000 participants were asked their weight and height instead of having it measured by someone else, and people have a notorious tendency to describe themselves as taller and lighter than they really are.
The push toward electronic medical records has garnered a lot of attention lately as the federal rules roll out for public funding of what the government calls "meaningful use." But aside from just saving money by modernizing the record keeping, just how meaningful can all of this get? Forbes caught up with Mike Cummins, senior vice president and CIO of VHA, a cooperative national health care network, to discuss the electronic future.
A whistleblower in the Columbia/HCA fraud case said Rick Scott should have known of billing practices at his hospitals that cheated the federal government out of millions of dollars. “He was a fairly hands-on CEO,” said John Schilling, a former reimbursement supervisor in the Fort Myers division office. “He should have known being CEO of a multibillion-dollar company. He should have known what is on his balance sheet.” Former corporate insiders are bewildered by Scott’s candidacy for Florida governor, let alone his dramatic rise in the polls. Voters are seemingly discounting Scott’s forced resignation in 1997 shortly after the FBI began widespread raids of Columbia/HCA offices. Ultimately, the largest for-profit hospital chain in the United States paid a record $1.7 billion in criminal and civil fines for Medicare fraud. In television ads and on the campaign trail, Scott has repeatedly said he takes responsibility for what happened at the company and says he learned from it.
For most people, picking a doctor is hardly a scientific process. They ask friends or family members to pass along names of doctors they like and trust, or rely on another doctor's referral. Increasingly, health plans and independent groups are making physician information available online to help consumers make these choices more methodically. But experts caution that most doctor-rating systems are still rudimentary, and a four-star rating or other high-performance designation may not reliably reflect a doctor's abilities. While ratings can provide helpful information, consumers still need to dig a little to find the best doctors for their needs.