FRAUD ALERT
Friday, August 15, 2014
Please share this Fraud Alert
with colleagues, consumers,
or other professionals in your
area. If you have any
questions about the Illinois
SMP program, or to receive
these Fraud Alerts directly,
please contact Jason
Echols, Healthcare
Consumer Protection
Coordinator at AgeOptions.
This document was supported in
part by a grant (No. 90MP0163 &
90SP0061) from the
Administration on Aging (AoA),
Administration for Community
Living (ACL), U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services
(DHHS). Grantees carrying out
projects under government
sponsorship are encouraged to
express freely their findings and
conclusions. Therefore, points of
view or opinions do not necessarily
represent official AoA, ACL, or
DHHS policy.
Fraud In The News
The following are current
news articles about health
care and fraud issues.
Consumer Fraud:
1. “How to Avoid Robocall
Scams” (AARP):
http://blog.aarp.org/2014/0
8/01/how-to-avoidrobocall-scams/
2. “Court Tells Tech Support
Scammers to Pay Up”
(FTC):
http://www.consumer.ftc.g
Dear SMP readers,
This week’s Fraud Alert contains news about a $98 million hospital
settlement, a new campaign to encourage you to pass on scam
prevention knowledge, and the National SMP Resource Center.
Have a great weekend!
What you will find in this week’s Fraud Alert
 Hospital’s $98.15 Million Settlement Has a Marion, IL Connection
 If You Know About a Scam, Pass It On
 SMP – A National Program
Hospital’s $98 Million Settlement Has a Marion, IL Connection
Community Health Systems Inc. (CHS) has agreed to pay $98.15 million
to settle several whistleblower lawsuits alleging that the company
knowingly billed Medicare and other federal health programs improperly
for hospital admissions. To read more about this settlement, read this
U.S. Department of Justice press release:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2014/August/14-civ-822.html
This story also has a local element. One of the whistleblower lawsuits
settled in this case involved Heartland Regional Medical Center in
Marion, Illinois, which is one of CHS’ 206 affiliated hospitals nationwide.
In this case, the whistleblower alleged that the hospital had quotas and a
corporate policy to admit emergency room patients as inpatients when
there was no medical necessity for that level of care. To learn more
about how this settlement impacts this Illinois hospital, please view or
read the WSIL TV3 news report available at
http://www.wsiltv.com/news/local/Hospitals-Settle-Fraud-Claims-269920701.html
If You Know About a Scam, Pass It On
If you receive this biweekly Fraud Alert email, you already know a lot
about scams and fraud. Why not share what you know? The Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) has a new campaign to encourage people to
share what they know about scams. The title “…Pass It On” says it all –
when you learn about a scam and how to protect yourself from it, pass
on that information by sharing it with a friend, acquaintance, or neighbor.
ov/blog/court-tells-techsupport-scammers-pay
3. “Did You Get a Call from
Area Code (876)?” (FTC):
http://www.consumer.ftc.g
ov/blog/did-you-get-callarea-code-876
4. “Relief from Tax Relief”
(FTC):
http://www.consumer.ftc.g
ov/blog/relief-tax-relief
The FTC has developed materials that you can share with others about
six common scams. Find and order these materials on the FTC website:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/feature-0030-pass-it-on
To learn more about “Pass It On,” watch this video from the FTC:
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/audio-video/video/pass-it
You can always share these SMP Fraud Alert emails as well.
SMP – A National Program
Did you know that the Illinois SMP at AgeOptions is one of 54 SMPs
nationwide? With funding from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS), U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL),
each of these 54 SMPs empower and assist Medicare beneficiaries, their
families, and caregivers to prevent, detect, and report health care fraud.
As a network of SMPs, we receive technical support from the national
SMP Resource Center, and the Center recently unveiled a new website
at: http://www.smpresource.org/. On this website, you can find
information on the SMP in each of the 50 states, Washington D.C.,
Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. If you have a friend or loved
one in another state, you can connect them to their state’s SMP for
health care fraud related information or to volunteer. You can also call us
at AgeOptions (800)699-9043 for help connecting with other SMPs.
Jason B. Echols, MSW, Health Care Consumer Protection Coordinator
AgeOptions
1048 Lake Street, Suite 300
Oak Park, IL 60301
phone (708)383-0258 fax (708)524-0870
jason.echols@ageoptions.org
ageoptions.org
AgeOptions, the Area Agency on Aging of Suburban Cook County, is
committed to improving the quality of life and maintaining the dignity of
older adults and those who care about them – through leadership and
support, community partnerships, comprehensive services, accurate
information and powerful advocacy.
Fraud Alerts contain information about current scams taking place in Illinois, announcements and updates
about programs or services related to health care and/or fraud protection, and links to news articles about
health care and fraud topics. Please forward any recommendations or announcements that you would like to
be included in a future Fraud Alert to jason.echols@ageoptions.org.