by Deb Cupples | The Justice Department states:
"Joseph P. Galichia, M.D. and Galichia Medical Group P.A., a Kansas cardiologist and his practice group, have agreed to pay the United States $1.3 million to settle claims that the physician and his group violated the False Claims Act between 2001 and 2006, by submitting false claims to Medicare, the Justice Department announced today. The government contends that claims were submitted for services not provided...."
This is not the first time that this particular medical group had to settle a fraud suit with the Justice Department:
"In May 2000, Galichia and Galichia Medical Group agreed to pay more than $1.5 million to settle a previous False Claims Act matter. In that case, the government contended that between 1993 and 1998, Galichia billed Medicare for a higher level of services than provided (up-coding), billed twice for the same services, and billed for services not provided....
"As part of the $1.3 million settlement, Galichia and Galichia Medical Group have entered into an Integrity Agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. The Integrity Agreement contains measures to ensure compliance with Medicare regulations and policies in the future." (Justice Department)
The concept of an "integrity agreement" boggles my mind. Basically, the government gets strong evidence that a contractor had cheated us taxpayers out of money -- and it let's the contractor sign an agreement stating that the contractor will conduct itself properly while under government contract in the future.
How can we ensure accountability with maneuvers like that?
It's worse than a slap on the wrist: it's like giving one's vacation plans and house keys to a known burglar.
Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* Business as Usual: Doctors Charged with $10 Million Medicare Fraud
* Insurance Companies Get Away with Over-billing Medicare
* Medical Contractors Created Evidence Against Defendants?
* High Cost of Private Contractors
* Investigators Look into Bribery by Senior Military Officers: Should Look Higher
* Shipping Contractor to Pay $26 million to Settle Fraud Suit
* Defense Dept. Rewarding Bad Contractor Performance?
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