Why are people so greedy?

[Dicast]

Dallas kickback scheme

I find it ludicrous that high profile, supposedly mega-rich physicians would stoop to such blatantly obvious illegal activity.  The news article details an indictment of Dallas area physicians that were taking kickbacks for referrals.  Some of the payments were up to 7 million!  Why risk 5 to 20 years in federal prison when you've already achieved such a high level of income?

[jfoxcpacfp]

Dicast wrote:

Dallas kickback scheme

I find it ludicrous that high profile, supposedly mega-rich physicians would stoop to such blatantly obvious illegal activity.  The news article details an indictment of Dallas area physicians that were taking kickbacks for referrals.  Some of the payments were up to 7 million!  Why risk 5 to 20 years in federal prison when you’ve already achieved such a high level of income?

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I think it is evil just as much as greed. Can you imagine having parents like that and the lives they have shattered? Plus we all pay for it in higher taxes. Shocked that the list was so long. Even worse in our industry when so-called advisors cheat people out of their savings f2f.

[Zaphod]

Hard to say whats actually going on, but definitely sounds strange with shell companies and what are possibly actual bribes. One of those founders just sounds kind of like a bad dude, if he built it he may have founded it on such premises and had a culture of it.

The other thing that is odd about healthcare is some of the anti-stark/kickback stuff is very vague and would be deemed standard practice (commission or lobbying) in other businesses. Ive heard people get in trouble for preferring one lab over the other because one cut a better deal for them, which just seems like a good move. Otoh, things like having a radiation center and pushing more people to that instead of surgery even unconsciously because you have a stake is obviously bad.

I dont get why they had to bribe people, being out of network with higher charges was their selling point and good enough. Very strange stuff.

[DMFA]

Man, I used to see Barker's and Kim's billboards all over the place when I'd drive around Dallas.  The San Antonio location must only have been open a couple years.  That looked like some shady stuff.  They're on the hook for money laundering, too.

[pulmdoc]

From reading the article, it sounds like they were dumb as well as greedy. The article makes a point of saying they didn't take Medicare/aid. I'm betting they thought their scheme didn't fall under Stark as a result. However, later on the article says they took money from Tricare and workman's comp, which opened themselves up to liability under antikickback statute.

[fatlittlepig]

Money is a funny thing no matter how much you have it isn't enough.

Look up the story of Rajat Gupta.

Fatlittlepig

[Zaphod]

pulmdoc wrote:

From reading the article, it sounds like they were dumb as well as greedy. The article makes a point of saying they didn’t take Medicare/aid. I’m betting they thought their scheme didn’t fall under Stark as a result. However, later on the article says they took money from Tricare and workman’s comp, which opened themselves up to liability under antikickback statute.

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Ha, that wouldve been dumb but you're probably right.