Consumerist

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insurance fraud

Los Angeles Hospitals Accused Of Using Homeless 'Patients' In Insurance Fraud Scams

Earlier this year we noted a story about an LA hospital caught dumping a paraplegic homeless patient on the sidewalk without a wheelchair. At the time, everyone assumed the hospital was stuck in a bad situation—they couldn't keep a patient forever after treating him, and he had no physical address, so what were they supposed to do? It turns out incidents like this, which one LA-based reader said "happens all the time," may not be so 'innocent' after all:
Hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties submitted phony Medicare and Medi-Cal bills for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of homeless patients—including drug addicts and the mentally ill—recruited from downtown's Skid Row, state and federal authorities allege.
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7:55 AM on Thu Aug 7 2008
By Chris Walters
4,430 views, 43 comments

Latest by GrumpyMD: @HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak: Right, so the insurance was billed, but patients were not seen and were not admitted to the more »

Bad Consumer

Meet The Man Who Faked Heart Attacks To Escape Dinner Bills And Cab Fares

Police arrested Robert Farnham for "habitual criminality" and "fraud on a restaurant" after his doctor reported him for faking heart attacks to avoid paying bills. The Wisconsin resident, who has been caught pulling the same routine five times this year, most recently keeled over in Applebees to avoid paying $22.66 for a "steak, salad, mashed potatoes, a soda, a strawberry smoothie and a brownie." More »

10:10 PM on Sat Jul 5 2008
By Carey
13,869 views, 74 comments

Latest by mferrari: How could ER fees possibly be less than dinner at Applebee's? more »

hospitals

Hospitals To Patients: "How About You Put That Liposuction On Your Credit Card?"

A Consumer Reports study finds that medical professionals are pushing high-interest lines of credit and financing options on patients. Credit agencies are even partnering with hospitals to offer branded credit cards so patients can finance elective cosmetic surgeries like liposuction and hair removal. More »

5:45 PM on Fri Jun 13 2008
By Alex Chasick
2,981 views, 36 comments

Latest by Bladefist: @Mr. Gunn: I'm not aware of anyone wanting to turn the veterans insurance over to the free market. more »

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Children’s Hospital Boston held on to the top spots for general pediatrics in the 2008 America's Best Children's Hospitals ranking. [U.S. News & World Report]

5 comments

healthcare

HCA: It's Hospital Policy To Shakedown Patients Before They Leave

It is hospital chain HCA's policy to "wrest as much cash as humanly possible out of patients before they leave the building," even if the patient hasn't yet recovered from major surgery. The bedside shakedowns occur before the for-profit hospital submits its claims to the insurance company, shifting the burden of payment from insurance companies to patients. Stephanie Mencimer wrote about her experience with HCA after her father underwent knee replacement surgery:

Among the many hospital personnel who stopped in to see my father after surgery was a "financial counselor" from the billing office, who basically started stalking him from the minute he left the intensive care unit.
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1:50 PM on Sun May 25 2008
By Carey
13,188 views, 127 comments

Latest by n/a: I still haven't paid my last hospital bill and we're still going over it: they billed me *** 45 *** times more »

identity theft

University Of California Hospital Publicizes 6,000 Patient Records While Mining For Prospective Donors

The University of California's non-profit medical center accidentally exposed 6,000 patient records as part of their continuing effort to hunt for prospective donors. The "large and very significant data breach" was caused by UCSF's data miner, Target America, which received details on almost 40,000 patients. More »

3:11 PM on Sun May 4 2008
By Carey
2,266 views, 16 comments

Latest by revmatty: Note that different schools get different funding. Berkeley does just fine (to be fair, they also get significant alumni more »

rectal exams

Jury Says 'Up Yours' To Rectal Exam Lawsuit

Remember Brian Persaud, the Brooklyn construction worker who tried to sue a New York hospital for performing a by-the-books rectal exam on him in 2003? On Monday, a Manhattan jury tossed his lawsuit, claiming he failed to show he suffered assault and battery. This means we'll never get to hear both sides splitting hairs about what constitutes a full "rectal examination"—Persaud says the doctor did it, and the doctor says she didn't.
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11:38 PM on Mon Apr 21 2008
By Chris Walters
10,081 views, 59 comments

Latest by n/a: @UFIA: I spit soda laughing. more »

errors computers can catch

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Approves Cardiac Rehab Stay Fit For A Time Traveler

In a letter dated March 27, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield informed Dona that her father was approved to stay in a cardiac rehab center through March 24. Dona's mother began planning for her husband's care shortly before his triple-bypass on March 15. Anthem originally approved the off-site rehab, but changed its mind on March 19, the day before Dona's father was scheduled to be discharged. With the support of his doctors, he filed an emergency appeal so he could move to rehab the next day. The retroactive approval arrived a week later. More »

12:05 AM on Sun Apr 6 2008
By Carey
4,364 views, 44 comments

Latest by landsnark: @00exmachina: "The administrative costs are not fixed, it is a fixed amount per person" Medical administration, like all business endeavors, has more »

sick

Suburban Chicago Hospital Will Close After Being Crushed By Too Many Uninsured Patients

If you're in the market for an excellent 410 bed hospital, the Chicago suburb of Blue Island has one that it'll let you have for free, says the Chicago Tribune.
In a stunning development underscoring the plight of non-profit hospitals struggling with the increase in uninsured patients, the Catholic ownership of St. Francis Hospital & Health Center on Wednesday said it will shutter the hospital because nobody would buy it.
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1:32 PM on Thu Apr 3 2008
By Meg Marco
8,264 views, 162 comments

Latest by AlphaWolf: Govt run Universal health care cannot be any worse then the system we have now. What we have now has more »

Getting the wrong kidney removed is bad enough, but what if you went in for leg surgery and had your anus operated on instead? [Fox News] (Thanks to Gregg!)

31 comments

hospitals

Doctors Remove Wrong Kidney

A surgical team at Park Nicollet Heath Services in Minnesota removed the healthy kidney from a patient last week, and left behind the possibly cancerous kidney. We were going to make a dumb joke about this is why you should draw a giant X over your good body parts with a Sharpie marker before a surgery, but the mistake was made in the patient's medical chart weeks before—the surgical team followed all proper procedures.
More »

6:03 PM on Tue Mar 18 2008
By Chris Walters
7,630 views, 74 comments

Latest by Woofer00: @Roundonbothends: -- a diseased kidney show up as diseased? Depends of the type of failure that necessitated the surgery. Growths on the more »

insurance

Insurance Company Won't Pay For Child's Leukemia Treatment

Primary Physician Care, a privately-owned insurance company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, has now twice refused to pay for a 3-year-old's special leukemia treatment recommended by doctors at Duke University Hospital—even after the child's mother called the insurance company and spoke personally to the president. The child, Paxten Mitchell, suffers from a rare form of the cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL.
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10:46 AM on Mon Mar 17 2008
By Chris Walters
10,491 views, 109 comments

Latest by n/a: I certainly feel very bad for the mother and the family that has to go through this. Clearly our system more »

badvertising

Would You Take Your (Really Hot) Kid To The Abercrombie & Fitch Emergency Department And Trauma Center?

The once-popular—surely it isn't still?—teenaged sexpot clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch is shelling out $10 million to build a new emergency room and trauma center at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Now a group is speaking out against the idea of prominently naming the kids' ER after the store, which the hospital has been hinting at in announcements. The reason the hospital is called "Nationwide Children's Hospital" is because Nationwide Insurance gave it $50 million. Up next: the Budweiser End Zone Birthing Center, and then the American Apparel Teenaged Pregnancy Wing. More »

8:07 PM on Tue Mar 11 2008
By Chris Walters
10,586 views, 98 comments

Latest by hco22boy: I dont undertand why this is in the new again, consumerist reported on this 2 years ago: [consumerist.com] more »

oops

Medical Records Sold As Scrap Paper

A fourth grade teacher in Salt Lake City, Utah, bought a box of scrap paper for $20 and discovered it was actually a box of medical records of 28 patients from Central Florida Regional Hospital. The hospital shipped the box via UPS to an audit company in Las Vegas last December. The hospital claims it had been tracking the box since February, but hadn't told the patients. As for the teacher's class, her next assignment for the students will be, "Apply for credit card offers using SSNs from the scrap paper box." More »

11:38 PM on Mon Mar 10 2008
By Chris Walters
5,764 views, 45 comments

Latest by maximeyocks: What I don't get is how all of you hard-core Consumerists who post ASAP when a story is hot off more »

overreactions

Chicago Hospital Freaks, Nearly Bans Visitor For Taking Photo From Window

Kurt was at Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago yesterday, where his father is in rehab after a recent stroke, and he was nearly kicked out because he took a photo of the setting sun out the window from a hallway.
Before even reviewing the picture, I heard a woman yell, "What do you think you're doing?!" I looked up, seeing an angry looking woman briskly coming down the hall at me.
 
"Taking a photo of the sun," I replied.
 
"You're in a hospital!" she shrilly declared.
 
"Yes, obviously."
 
"I've called security, you stay here!"
More »

7:50 PM on Wed Mar 5 2008
By Chris Walters
20,454 views, 129 comments

Latest by BeFrugalNotCheap: Christ, are you people talking about that mcdonalds hot coffee case again? more »

ambulance chasers

Receptionist Holds Up Ambulance To Collect $5 Co-Pay From Heart Attack Victim

Barabara Antonelli was strapped onto a gurney and breathing through an oxygen mask when her doctor's receptionist bounded up to her ambulance and said: "I hate to bother you, but could you give me the $5 co-pay?" More »

3:15 PM on Mon Feb 4 2008
By Carey
12,907 views, 58 comments

lawsuits

Doctor Forces Rectal Exam, Patient Punches Doctor, Police Arrest Patient, Patient Sues

A 38-year-old construction worker who suffered a head injury on the job was sedated and given a rectal exam against his will, says the New York Times. More »

4:10 PM on Wed Jan 16 2008
By Meg Marco
17,025 views, 188 comments

treatments

Minorities Not Prescribed Opioids As Frequently As Whites

If you're black, Hispanic, or "Asian/other," you might want to make sure your voice is heard loud and clear the next time you have to make a trip to the ER. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that over the past 13 years, white patients were prescribed powerful opioid painkillers 31% of the time, versus 23% for blacks, 24% for Hisanics, and 28% for Asians and "others." More »

5:04 PM on Wed Jan 2 2008
By Chris Walters
2,532 views, 67 comments

Latest by n/a: @canerican: "Of course the White Conservative Male is always wrong (unless its the Jews, right?)" Why hasn't this been flagged yet? @techguy1138: Agreed. more »

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