Details surface in doctor case.Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard Four Eugene heart surgeons, one retired, are under federal investigation for allegedly submitting false billing False billing is a fraudulent act of invoicing or otherwise requesting funds from an individual or firm without showing obligation to pay. Such notices are often sent to owners of domain names, purporting to be legitimate renewal notices, although not originating from the owner's claims to Medicare, court documents show. The doctors, who have not been charged, have each hired criminal defense attorneys as the long-running investigation grinds on. News of the probe first came to light last March when federal agents raided the doctors' Eugene offices, taking with them boxes of billing records and copies of computer hard drives. But information about the case has been scarce as neither federal investigators nor the doctors have been willing to discuss the case publicly. Now, details have surfaced in court documents filed last month in U.S. District Court in Portland. The doctors are David Duke David Ernest Duke is a former Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, a candidate in presidential primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. , Stanley Baldwin, Warren Glover and the retired Richard Hicks Hicks , Edward 1780-1849. American painter of primitive works, notably The Peaceable Kingdom, of which nearly 100 versions exist. . They're all veteran surgeons who ran an independent practice called Cardiovascular Surgical Associates until November 2004, when PeaceHealth, owner of Eugene's Sacred Heart Medical Center Sacred Heart Medical Center may refer to: In the United States:
Unbeknownst to PeaceHealth, the doctors were already under federal investigation at the time, said Robert Weaver Robert Weaver is the name of:
PeaceHealth spokesman Brian Terrett said not even the doctors knew they were under federal investigation until the March 2005 raid on their offices by federal agents. Documents filed by government lawyers say they are investigating billing practices of Cardiovascular Surgical Associates. A former employee of the practice alleged that the doctors submitted false claims to Medicare for its "Assistant at Surgery" billings. Specifically, the employee alleged the practice scheduled and billed Medicare for assistants at surgery who "were not performing procedures that would justify their presence," in violation of federal law, the documents say. "Assistant at Surgery" apparently refers to the common practice of having a second surgeon on the other side of the operating table from the main surgeon, who provides another set of hands and eyes as well as expertise if the operation gets complicated. While the investigation continues, a legal skirmish has broken out over a file in the possession of PeaceHealth that government investigators want. Sometime before they sold to PeaceHealth, the doctors hired a Boston lawyer, Thomas Crane In 1810 Lieutenant Thomas Crane, an officer of the 73rd Regiment, was appointed caretaker commandant of Norfolk Island during the final evacuation of the first convict settlement. The British government regarded the island as too isolated and costly to maintain. , who specializes in defending and advising doctors in health care fraud and abuse cases. Terrett said it's not uncommon for doctors to seek legal advice to avoid running afoul of a·foul of prep. 1. In or into collision, entanglement, or conflict with. 2. Up against; in trouble with: ran afoul of the law. Medicare billing rules. In August, PeaceHealth lawyers notified the government that they had found a copy of a file belonging to Crane, and that Crane had provided legal advice to the Eugene doctors regarding billing Medicare for assistants at surgery, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a document filed by government lawyers. The PeaceHealth lawyers said they were willing to waive To intentionally or voluntarily relinquish a known right or engage in conduct warranting an inference that a right has been surrendered. For example, an individual is said to waive the right to bring a tort action when he or she renounces the remedy provided by law for such attorney-client privilege In the law of evidence, a client's privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent any other person from disclosing, confidential communications between the client and his or her attorney. and turn the file over to the government. But then Robert Hoevet, a Portland lawyer representing Baldwin, contacted the PeaceHealth lawyers and objected to having the file turned over to the government, saying attorney-client privilege still existed between the doctors and Crane. PeaceHealth lawyers told federal investigators they didn't know whether such a privilege existed, and that they would not turn over the file until the doctors' lawyers withdrew their objections or until a judge ordered them to turn it over. In January, the government issued a subpoena subpoena (səpē`nə) [Lat.,=under penalty], in law, an order to a witness to appear before a court. A subpoena ad testificandum [Lat. for the file, and earlier this month, the doctors' lawyers asked the court to intervene in the case. "We're caught in the middle," Weaver said. "We're holding this bag and we're waiting for someone to tell us who to give it to." Lawrence Matasar, a Portland lawyer representing Duke, said on behalf of all four doctors that they had no comment on the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Nesler also declined to comment. The judge in the case is expected to rule sometime after March 20 whether the doctors can intervene, and whether their attorney-client privilege over the file still exists. No one is willing to speculate how long the investigation will take and whether it will yield criminal or civil charges. But it is clear that the federal government takes Medicare fraud Medicare fraud Medifraud Medical practice Any unlawful act which results in the inappropriate billing of Medicare for services by a health care provider–eg, physicians, hospitals and affiliated providers. See Medicare. seriously. In 2004, the University of Washington paid $35 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the government alleging massive billing fraud at UW's medical centers, according to articles in The Seattle Times. Two leading UW doctors entered felony felony (fĕl`ənē), any grave crime, in contrast to a misdemeanor, that is so declared in statute or was so considered in common law. pleas in the case, and one left his job. The $35 million settlement was the largest since federal auditors began investigating billing practices throughout the country in the mid-1990s. The investigation focused on allegations that doctors falsely claimed they had been present during procedures performed by medical residents in order to bill the government and then backdated the documents to cover up the fraud, according to a Seattle Times article. The government said the UW destroyed and sanitized san·i·tize tr.v. san·i·tized, san·i·tiz·ing, san·i·tiz·es 1. To make sanitary, as by cleaning or disinfecting. 2. reports on billing fraud. UW officials said any overbilling was the result of innocent mistakes and not deliberate actions, The Times reported. |
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