Outrageous

This post is a sequel to an earlier entry, titled "Fraud and Abuse".

Fraud: deceit, trickery, cheating (Webster’s dictionary).
Abuse: to use wrongly, misuse, excessive use (Webster’s dictionary).

Thelma and I moved to Florida about 30 years ago. We are both in our late 80’s and love it here. But little did we know how much is happening in Florida, which I describe as fraud and abuse. I have often written and spoken about this, but I now realize that I was preaching to the choir.

Medicare reimbursement! CMS seems to think that DME/HME providers are at fault, and so they are doing everything in their power to delay payments. I saw an article in my local newspaper where they reported that out of the 100 physicians in the United States who received the bulk of Medicare payments in 2012, 28 of them were located in Florida! No other state came close. I always thought Florida was the “sunshine” state. The 2013 figures are not yet available.

An ophthalmologist received almost twenty-one million dollars ($21,000,000!) in 2012. And yet our family physician told us how backlogged he is in receiving his reimbursements. This is outrageous! I would like to know how many dollars all the DME/HME dealers in Florida received during the same period.

It appears that fraud and abuse fits like a hand in a glove. However that is not true for our small segment of the business. We have so many honest, hard working providers and dealers whose first consideration has always been for their clientele. They are being punished for someone else’s greed!

All I can add to this report is to say “Thank You” to AAHomecare and the state DME associations who work so diligently to protect all DME/HME dealers. Follow their lead, and together we can eliminate a great deal of this fraud and abuse.