$18 Million Judgment Entered In Palm Beach Dermatologist Medicare Fraud Lawsuit

[canadianoutlaw]

There are honest ways and dishonest ways to build wealth. The WCI and Bogleheads communities pride themselves on the former. This shows the other side. Egregious, inexcusable, and extremely damaging to our profession.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/18-million-judgment-entered-in-palm-beach-dermatologist-medicare-fraud-lawsuit-300403678.html

[jhwkr542]

Edit:  Nevermind.  Got all the doctors' name confused.

[artemis]

Good for Dr. Schiff for blowing the whistle!  I wonder how he initially discovered the fraud?  Followups on patients who had originally been treated by Dr. Marder?  Requests for second opinions by some of the patients?  However he found out, I'm glad he had the courage to act.

[The White Coat Investor]

I wonder what Dr. Schiff's share of the $18 Million is and how much of it will ever be collected.

 

You can't insure against your own criminal behavior!

[Complete_newbie]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I wonder what Dr. Schiff’s share of the $18 Million is and how much of it will ever be collected.

 

You can’t insure against your own criminal behavior!

Click to expand...

Interesting thought. Is it possible to hose another doc just for money? Certainly in Radiology alot of animosity from my attendings on these expert witnesses

Dr. Schiff doing the right thing and getting payed.

[DarrVao777]

artemis wrote:

Good for Dr. Schiff for blowing the whistle!  I wonder how he initially discovered the fraud?  Followups on patients who had originally been treated by Dr. Marder?  Requests for second opinions by some of the patients?  However he found out, I’m glad he had the courage to act.

Click to expand...

Simple examination of the patient and their biopsy logs. Some patients are smart enough to seek a 2nd opinion after repeated diagnoses of skin cancers and referrals for subsequent treatment. And the sad thing is, I'm sure the doctor who was caught isn't the only one.

Rampant overbiopsying, overreading, and overtreatment in dermatology and particularly in Florida.

It's sad these fools would sell out their own specialty and own profession over a quick buck. I'm reading he seems to have entered into an agreement where he avoided jail time...

[VagabondMD]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I wonder what Dr. Schiff’s share of the $18 Million is and how much of it will ever be collected.

 

You can’t insure against your own criminal behavior!

Click to expand...

I believe it is 20% for qui tam actions that are successful. A colleague of mine was the beneficiary for $60M (yes, "sixty million dollars") in such a case; the judgment against a large company was $300M. Unbelievably, he still works in clinical practice.

[VagabondMD]

Complete_newbie wrote:

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I wonder what Dr. Schiff’s share of the $18 Million is and how much of it will ever be collected.

 

You can’t insure against your own criminal behavior!

Click to expand…

Interesting thought. Is it possible to hose another doc just for money? Certainly in Radiology alot of animosity from my attendings on these expert witnesses

Dr. Schiff doing the right thing and getting payed.

Click to expand...

This is worlds different than expert witnessing a med mal case.

[Hatton]

Wow!!!   I guess I better get with the biopsying.  I have never heard of this either.

[jhwkr542]

http://m.content.healthaffairs.org/content/31/4/741.full
Self-referral for anatomic pathology often results in excessive biopsies according to a couple of studies. Dermatology, GI, and urology practices are the most guilty. With the exception of dermatology, where some derms have dermpath training, there is absolutely no medical reason for the practices to have their own histology lab. Urologists and GI groups hire pathologists to read out cheaply and keep the rest of the profits. If you don't think GI and urology practices don't biopsy even a little bit more by having an extra financial incentive, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.

[canadianoutlaw]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

I wonder what Dr. Schiff’s share of the $18 Million is and how much of it will ever be collected.

 

You can’t insure against your own criminal behavior!

Click to expand...

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime--law/palm-beach-doctor-agrees-pay-18m-settle-medicare-suit/i9UkrbaaP9Bbz2h261yA3K/

"Under the terms of the federal whistleblower act, Schiff would be eligible for 15 percent to 25 percent of any money the government recovers. A settlement agreement shows he is to get 22 percent. If Marder pays $5.2 million, that would be about $1.1 million."

[Kamban]

jhwkr542 wrote:

Self-referral for anatomic pathology often results in excessive biopsies according to a couple of studies. Dermatology, GI, and urology practices are the most guilty.

Click to expand...

The other side of the coin is when one becomes too conservative, and makes clinical diagnosis and does not biopsy a lesion which turns out to be a cancer, the $18 million judgement can occur in a single case.

Over the years I have seen patients treated as eczema for years without a biopsy that turned out to be mycosis fungoides or a T cell lymphoma in an advanced stage.