ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
A former employee of a California based hospital chain has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the hospital. The former employee was an executive with Prime Healthcare Services. She alleges that the company overcharged the Medicare program on a regular basis. California whistleblower attorneys say that Medicare fraud continues to be problematic.
The whistleblower in this case worked as a risk manager at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego. She alleges that the hospital inflated the charges by eliminating observation care and refusing to send patients to post-acute care facilities. The whistleblower claims that the estimated amount of fraudulent billings could be as much as $50 million dollars. That allegation is based on the contention that Alvarado Hospital is a typical hospital in the Prime Healthcare Services chain and that other hospitals in the chain are also fraudulently billing Medicare at the same rate. She estimates that Alvarado Hospital alone has fraudulently billed more than $4 million dollars in claims. California whistleblower attorneys think that Medicare fraud costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year.
An attorney for Prime Healthcare Services stated that it defies common sense that Alvarado Hospital has been engaged in a false claims scheme when the entire hospital system has been under intense scrutiny for years.
According to a 2011 FierceHealthcare report, Prime Healthcare Services hospitals in California regularly billed Medicare for rare medical conditions at a higher rate than is common for other hospitals in the United States. That report prompted a federal investigation. Recently, Prime healthcare Services was fined $95,000 by regulators when executives shared the medical records of a patient who complained about her stay to the LA Times. California whistleblower attorneys say that more investigation into Medicare fraud will likely lead to more evidence regarding false claims.
The whistleblower suit filed by the Alvarado hospital executive was ordered unsealed because the time limit for keeping it sealed had expired. Evans Law Firm, Inc. is not involved in this case, but will investigate whistleblower claims.
Evans Law Firm, Inc. handles whistleblower/false claims, consumer fraud class actions, insurance and banking fraud, consumer product liability, elder abuse, and personal injury cases. If you think that you have witnessed or are the victim of financial fraud by an insurance company, bank or individual then, contact Evans Law Firm, Inc. at (415) 441-8669 for a free and confidential consultation, or email info@evanslaw.com.
