The government's health insurance website is quietly sending consumers' personal data to private companies that specialize in advertising and analyzing Internet data for performance and marketing, The Associated Press has learned. The scope of what is disclosed or how it might be used was not immediately clear, but it can include age, income, ZIP code, whether a person smokes, and if a person is pregnant. It can include a computer's Internet address, which can identify a person's name or address when combined with other information collected by sophisticated online marketing or advertising firms. The Obama administration says HealthCare.gov's connections to data firms were intended to help improve the consumer experience.
A prominent Fort Lauderdale cardiologist at the center of a federal investigation into alleged Medicare and Medicaid fraud at Broward Health has signed a new contract featuring a hefty pay cut and an unfamiliar requirement that he treat poor people. Dr. Michael Chizner, chief medical director of tax-supported Broward Health's Heart Center of Excellence, signed the deal in December — weeks ahead of what was to be his scheduled termination date. The doctor ultimately signed, although his lawyer objected to the hospital's handling of his client. Broward Health previously announced Chizner would be dismissed on Jan. 2 for refusing to accept changes to his 10-year contract "in light of changes in the application or interpretation of laws and regulations…which now render your employment agreement illegal or unenforceable."
Oklahoma State Rep. Mike Ritze is a foot soldier — one of hundreds — in a passionate war over the Affordable Care Act that is reigniting as state legislatures convene across the country. The Republican lawmaker, a family doctor, has stood behind three anti-Obamacare bills supported by conservative groups in Oklahoma and other states. None has made it into law, but Ritze plans to pick up the fight in the 2015 legislative session that convenes in the Sooner state next month. "We need to do everything we can to try and reverse this," said Ritze, who practices in Broken Arrow.
When a woman had gall bladder surgery at a Massachusetts hospital in 2013,
doctors noticed something suspicious on a CT scan that they thought could be ovarian cancer. But the recommendation that the patient get a pelvic ultrasound fell through the cracks. Months later, she was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. Normally, this type of medical mistake could mark the start of a protracted malpractice lawsuit. But in Massachusetts, where medical, legal and consumer groups have worked together in support of a recently enacted law that tries to preempt litigation by establishing a process and timeframe for discussing mistakes, that's not what happened, according to her attorney who recounted the case in an interview.
An administrative arm of South Shore Hospital will pay nearly $1.8 million in civil penalties after state and federal investigators said the organization was running an illegal kickback scheme, paying doctors to refer patients to services within the hospital's health care network. The doctors, members of independent physicians groups affiliated with South Shore Hospital, received cash incentives for keeping treatments within South Shore's system instead of referring patients out of network, according to court documents. Authorities said the kickbacks included 103 payouts to 33 physician groups over nine years ending in 2010. They continued despite "a number of instances in which [the organization's] attorneys and others raised concerns about the legality of the program," the complaint said.
As the government was hiring dozens of contractors to build its now-infamous ObamaCare website, it skipped crucial steps that federal auditors now say could have prevented some of the chaos. Lax oversight and poor planning had plagued the rollout of HealthCare.gov from the start, according to a report released Tuesday from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS). Out of six contracts examined by the inspector general's office, only two had been properly vetted before the government gave the greenlight. Most of the contracts also lacked cost estimates and signatures from agency officials to sign off on the project. Additionally, the government often picked a type of contract — cost-reimbursement — that were financially risky for the government.