Bridge Year Opportunity!

Check out the following opportunity available in Reston, VA!  This would be a great clinical experience for someone looking to do a bridge year!

"Busy and pleasant Urology clinic in Reston, VA (Northern Virginia Area) is seeking a dependable, on-time, and cordial college graduate to join our team.  This is a paid, full-time internship of 1-2 year(s) duration, perfect for an individual seeking more experience in the medical health sciences with hopes of going to medical, nursing, physician’s assistant, or allied-health sciences school.  This would be a great opportunity for those taking a gap year before attending professional school.

You must be mature; organized; have excellent written, verbal, and typing skills; and must be committed to delivering excellent customer service.  Proficiency with Microsoft Office 2010 is expected. No prior medical experience is required, although preferred. 

Interns will receive training in any of the following:  using electronic health records, collecting patient medical history and vital signs, checking patients in and out at front desk, using electronic billing systems, answering phones, and keeping meeting schedule for the physician.  Applicants must be willing to learn and work with multiple medical systems.

Immediate work available!

Please email resumes to jlarnold@urolady.comcastbiz.net"

Former Owner of Wilksboro Clincial Laboratory Pleads Guilty to Criminal Health Care Fraud and Tax Fraud Charges and Agrees to Pay $300,000 to Settle Civil Fraud Allegations

CHARLOTTE, NC—The former owner of Wilkesboro Clinical Laboratory (WCL) pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for his involvement in a health care fraud scheme in which he and his company billed Medicare for services which were not rendered, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Louis Francis Curte, 49, also admitted he filed false tax returns from 2007 to 2010.
In a separate civil settlement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Curte also agreed to pay $300,000 to resolve civil fraud allegations that he and his company violated the Physician Self-Referral Act or “Stark Law.”
U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by Derrick Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations, Atlanta Region; Jeannine A. Hammett, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI); and John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division.
Curte appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge David C. Keesler today and pleaded guilty to four counts of health care fraud and one count of filing a false tax return. According to court documents and today’s plea hearing, Curte was the owner and operator of WCL, which was enrolled with the Medicare program and provided microbiology and other laboratory services. Court records show that from at least 2007 to in or about 2009, Curte defrauded Medicare by submitting false and fraudulent claims for microbiology services that were never rendered.
Court documents indicate that Curte and WCL used another company (“Company #1”) for certain types of microbiology testing that could not be performed by WCL in-house. Court records show that WCL generally submitted specimens to Company #1 to test for the presence of infection-causing bacteria. If an infection was present in a specimen, Company #1 then typically performed one or two additional tests to identify the type of pathogen present (“identification test”) and the type of antibiotic to which the pathogen was susceptible (“susceptibility test”). Pursuant to the scheme to defraud, Curte routinely billed Medicare for identification and susceptibility tests, when, in fact, no such tests were performed and even when the initial testing indicated that no pathogen was actually present in the specimen. According to the plea agreement, the intended loss to Medicare by the defendant was between $10,000 and $30,000.
At today’s hearing, Curte also pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns for the years 2007 through 2010. According to filed documents and court proceedings, Curte filed false tax returns which substantially understated his gross income, and therefore, the tax owed to the United States. Court records indicate that Curte maintained false books in an attempt to mask a prohibited business relationship with a physician, identified in court documents as Dr. T.M. According to the plea agreement, the amount of tax loss was more than $30,000 but less than $50,000.
At sentencing, Curte faces a maximum term of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the health care fraud charges and a maximum term of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the tax fraud charge. In his plea agreement, Curte agreed to pay full restitution to Medicare and to IRS for any losses. The final restitution amount will be determined by the court at Curte’s sentencing hearing, which has not been scheduled yet. Curte has been released on bond pending sentencing.
Curte’s prohibited relationship with Dr. T. M. forms the basis for Curte’s civil settlement agreement. According to the civil settlement agreement, from January 1, 2006 through April 30, 2009, Curte and WCL violated the Stark Law by knowingly having a prohibited financial relationship with Dr. T.M.
Dr. T.M. owned and operated a billing company, now defunct, which submitted all of WCL’s reimbursement claims to Medicare. Dr. T.M.’s billing company was paid on a “per claim” basis for the reimbursement claims submitted to Medicare on behalf of WCL. As an owner of the billing company, Dr. T.M. benefitted directly from WCL’s payments to his billing company. Investigators also found that Dr. T.M. referred blood and tissue specimens to WCL for pathology testing.
The Stark Law forbids a medical provider from billing Medicare and Medicaid for certain services referred by physicians who have a financial relationship with the medical provider. A prohibited financial relationship includes an agreement between the medical provider and a physician to compensate the physician based on the volume of the physician’s referrals or the revenue realized through those referrals.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Curte is required to reimburse the government for the amount he wrongfully received from Medicare in violation of the Stark Law and to pay penalties back to the program, for a total of $300,000.
The investigation into Curte was handled by HHS-OIG and IRS, with the assistance of the FBI. The criminal prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelli Ferry.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Caldwell handled the civil settlement.
The investigation and charges are the work of the Western District’s joint Health Care Fraud Task Force. The task force is multi-agency team of experienced federal and state investigators, working in conjunction with criminal and civil Assistant United States Attorneys, dedicated to identifying and prosecuting those who defraud the health care system and reducing the potential for health care fraud in the future. The task force focuses on the coordination of cases, information sharing, identification of trends in health care fraud throughout the region, staffing of all whistle blower complaints, and the creation of investigative teams so that individual agencies may focus their unique areas of expertise on investigations. The task force builds upon existing partnerships between the agencies and its work reflects a heightened effort to reduce fraud and recover taxpayer dollars.
If you suspect Medicare or Medicaid fraud please report it by phone at 1-800-447-8477 (1-800-HHS-TIPS) or e-mail at HHSTips@oig.hhs.gov. To report Medicaid fraud in North Carolina, call the North Carolina Medicaid Investigations Division at 919-881-2320.

2014 AMCAS Application

The 2014 AMCAS Application will open around 9:30 AM ET today for applicants to begin working on their AMCAS application. Applicants will not be able to submit their applications until June 4^th and medical schools will not begin to receive applicant data until June 28^th.

Fees

The 2014 AMCAS Application fee is $160 (includes one medical school designation) and $35 for each additional fee. Additionally, applicants can apply for the Fee Assistance Program and once all supporting documentation are received it only takes around 15 days for the AAMC to grant an eligibility decision.

Transcripts

Applicants can begin to submit transcriptsbut they will need to be sure that if they’d like their latest spring or summer grades to be included in their application that they wait unitl the grades are reflected on the official transcript before submitting those transcripts.

Letters of Evaluation

Letter writers can begin to submit letters to AMCAS via the AMCAS Letter Writer Application, Interfolio, VirtualEvals or paper. Be sure the applicant has provided you with the letter request for so you have access to their AAMC ID and AMCAS Letter ID when submitting the letters. Letters DO NOT have to be submitted prior to the application being submitted, verified or processed but must comply with the individual deadlines set by medical schools for letters. You can share the Letters of Evaluation Guidelines with your students and faculty as well.

Join the Conversation

AMCAS provides helpful hints, answers questions and provides realtime updates via Facebookand Twitter so be sure to follow us! In addition, we can answer any questions via phone or email from 9-7pm ET M-F. If you have questions contact us at 202-828-0600 or amcas@aamc.org.

Harrisburg Ambulance Company Pleads Guilty to Submitting False Statements to Medicare

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that a Harrisburg-based ambulance company has pleaded guilty to multiple false statement charges related to Medicare fraud.
Advantage Medical Transport Inc., headquartered at 733 Fire House Lane, Harrisburg, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner today to 14 counts of false statements in health care matters, 18 USC 1035. Each count is punishable by up to as much as a $500,000 fine. Serge Sivchuk, age 27, the sole owner of Advantage, appeared in court and entered the guilty pleas on behalf of the corporation. The government estimated the total loss to Medicare as a result of the fraud was approximately $740,000.
According to U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith, Sivchuk and Advantage were indicted in January 2012 on multiple false statement and Medicare fraud charges. The indictment alleged that between January 2009 and June 2011 Sivchuk, and Advantage perpetrated a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting hundreds of claims for the nonemergency transport of Medicare beneficiaries to and from dialysis treatment centers. The indictment alleged the claims were fraudulent because the patients were ambulatory and the ambulance transports were not medically necessary.
The indictment focused on an August 2010 audit conducted by Medicare, and a June 2, 2011 search of Advantage’s business premises by federal law enforcement officers. In response to the audit Sivchuk submitted 14 ambulance trip sheets to Medicare that were prepared by emergency medical technicians (EMTs) at the time of each ambulance transport. The trip sheets contained a narrative section that described the patient’s physical condition and ability to ambulate and serve as the primary support document for each Medicare billed, ambulance transport claim. The June 2, 2011 search by the FBI and investigators from the Health and Human Services (HHS) Inspector General’s Office revealed Sivchuk did not submit the original trip sheets to the auditors but instead submitted copies that had been re- written and forged to conceal the fact the beneficiaries were ambulatory and capable of walking and standing.
During a February 22, 2013 court appearance before Judge Connor, Sivchuk pled guilty to one of the 14 false statement counts for which he was indicted, admitting he directed a subordinate to re-write and forge the signatures of two EMTs on a trip sheet pertaining to the ambulance transport of a dialysis treatment beneficiary on August 19, 2010. Sivchuk is currently awaiting sentencing and the completion of a pre-sentence report.
Medicare paid Advantage approximately $166 for each leg of a transport to and from a dialysis treatment center, plus $5.49 per mile. Many dialysis patients underwent three treatments per week. Thus, one week’s transport of just one dialysis patient would yield Advantage more than $1,000.
Under the terms of Advantage’s plea agreement Judge Conner will determine the overall loss to Medicare. During the guilty plea proceeding Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Douglas Daniel told the court the government intends to show during the loss hearing that the total loss to Medicare was approximately $740,000. Daniel also noted that at the time the investigators executed the June 2, 2011 search warrant, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a civil action in federal court that froze more than $936,000 in Advantage and Sivchuk controlled bank accounts.
The case is part of a priority program within the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office focusing on Health Care Fraud and a joint investigation by the FBI and the HHS-Office of Inspector General. Anyone with information concerning suspected health care fraud should contact the FBI at 717-232-8686.

Montana Hospitals Agree to Pay $3.95 Million to Resolve Alleged False Claims Act and Stark Law Violations

St. Vincent Healthcare, a hospital located in Billings, Montana, and Holy Rosary Healthcare, a hospital located in Miles City, Montana, have agreed to pay $3,950,000 plus interest to resolve allegations that they violated the Stark Law and the False Claims Act by improperly providing incentive pay to physicians that made referrals to the hospitals, the Justice Department announced today. The Stark Law forbids a hospital from billing Medicare for certain services referred by physicians who have a financial relationship with the hospital unless that relationship falls within certain exceptions. A prohibited financial relationship includes a hospital’s agreement to compensate a physician in a manner that takes into account the volume of the physician’s referrals or the revenue realized through those referrals.
The settlement announced today resolves allegations that the hospitals paid several physicians incentive compensation that took into account the value or volume of their referrals by improperly including certain designated health services in the formula for calculating physician incentive compensation. These issues were disclosed by the hospitals to the government.
“The resolution of this matter underscores our commitment to ensure that services reimbursable by federal health care programs are based on the best interests of patients rather than the personal financial interests of referring physicians,” said Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department’s Civil Division.
“Combating health care fraud is a top priority of the Department of Justice and the Montana U.S. Attorney’s Office. St. Vincent Healthcare and Holy Rosary Healthcare allegedly put their financial interest ahead of their responsibility to provide cost effective health care. The United States recovered $3,950,000 of taxpayers’ dollars from the hospitals. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to enforcing the Stark Law and False Claims Act, as well as other health care laws and regulations against wrongdoers. This case also demonstrates how the Department of Justice will work with those health care providers who disclose their misconduct,” said Michael W. Cotter, U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana.
“There is an expectation that corporations providing services to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries adhere to the provision of the Stark Law. I applaud St. Vincent Healthcare and Holy Rosary Healthcare for recognizing their potential liability in this matter and making a disclosure,” said Gerry Roy, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services region, including Montana. “Working closely with our partners at the Department of Justice, we will vigilantly protect federal health care programs against violations of the Stark Law.”
This resolution is part of the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and another step for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced by Attorney General Eric Holder and Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, in May 2009. The partnership between the two departments has focused on efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of the most powerful tools in that effort is the False Claims Act, which the Justice Department has used to recover $10.3 billion since January 2009 in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs. The Justice Department’s total recoveries in False Claims Act cases since January 2009 are over $14.2 billion.
This case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica T. Fehr and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Shin with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana, the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

Supervisor of $63 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme Convicted

WASHINGTON—A federal jury today convicted a Miami-area supervisor of a mental health care company, Health Care Solutions Network (HCSN), for helping to orchestrate a fraud scheme that crossed state lines and that resulted in the submission of more than $63 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Florida Medicaid.
The announcement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher B. Dennis of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigation’s Miami office.
After a five-day trial, a jury in the Southern District of Florida found Wondera Eason, 51, guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for July 8, 2013.
Eason was employed as the director of Medical Records at HCSN’s Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP). A PHP is a form of intensive treatment for severe mental illness. In Florida, HCSN operated community mental health centers at two locations. After stealing millions from Medicare and Medicaid in Florida, HCSN’s owner, Armando Gonzalez, exported the scheme to North Carolina, opening a third HCSN location in Hendersonville.
Evidence at trial showed that at all three locations, Eason, a certified medical records technician, oversaw the alteration, fabrication, and forgery of thousands of documents, which purported to support the fraudulent claims HCSN submitted to Medicare and Florida Medicaid. Many of these medical records were created weeks or months after the patients were admitted to HCSN facilities in Florida for purported PHP treatment and were utilized to support false and fraudulent billing to government sponsored health care benefit programs, including Medicare and Florida Medicaid. Eason directed therapists to fabricate documents, and she also forged the signature of therapists and others on documents that she was in charge of maintaining. Eason interacted with Medicare and Medicaid auditors, providing them with false and fraudulent documents, while certifying the documents were accurate.
The “therapy” at HCSN often consisted of nothing more than patients watching Disney movies, playing bingo, and having barbeques. Eason directed therapists to remove any references to these recreational activities in the medical records.
According to evidence at trial, Eason was aware that HCSN in Florida paid illegal kickbacks to owners and operators of Miami-Dade County Assisted Living Facilities (ALF) in exchange for patient referral information to be used to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid. Eason also knew that many of the ALF referral patients were ineligible for PHP services because many patients suffered from mental retardation, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.
From 2004 through 2011, HCSN billed Medicare and the Florida Medicaid program approximately $63 million for purported mental health services.
Fifteen defendants have been charged for their alleged roles in the HCSN health care fraud scheme, and 12 defendants have pleaded guilty. On Monday, February 25, 2013, Gonzalez was sentenced to serve 168 months in prison for his role in the scheme. Alleged co-conspirators Alina Feas and Lisset Palmero are scheduled for trial on June 3, 2013. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial.
This case is being investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Allan J. Medina and Steven Kim, former Special Trial Attorney William Parente, and Deputy Chief Benjamin D. Singer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.

Florida Man Sentenced to 55 Months’ Imprisonment for Role in Health Care Fraud and Money Remitting Ring

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney of the Southern District of Florida; Addy Villanueva, Special Agent in Charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE); Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Christopher B. Dennis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), announced that Oscar Sanchez, 47, of Naples, was sentenced to 55 months’ imprisonment, 20 months’ home confinement, and three years of supervised release for his role in a money laundering conspiracy, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h). In addition, U.S. District Judge Paul Huck entered a forfeiture order that consisted of a personal money judgment against Sanchez in the amount of $10,000,000. In partial satisfaction of that judgment, Sanchez will be forfeiting to the United States four properties worth about $635,000 and $63,196 in cash. Sanchez also must perform 1,600 hours of community service during his first year after his term of imprisonment.
On August 30, 2012, Sanchez pled guilty to conspiring to launder the proceeds of health care fraud. According to court documents, Sanchez acted as a middleman between individuals engaging in health care fraud and Caribbean Transfers, a company that remitted money from the United States to Cuba. Sanchez admitted to providing approximately $10 million in cash to individuals who defrauded the Medicare program.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of FDLE, FBI, and HHS-OIG in coordination with the Medicare Fraud Strike Force for their work on this case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys H. Ron Davidson and Eloisa Fernandez.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.