Medicare paid nearly $3.8 million for “medically unnecessary stents” that were put into patients by a Maryland doctor, who is accused of Medicare fraud and abuse, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee said in a statement this week.
Dr. Mark Midei, and who was unnamed in the Finance Committee report but identified by the New York Times and the Associated Press, allegedly implanted almost 600 stents—tiny tubes inserted into the body’s passageways during medical procedures such as surgery—into patients, “wasting” millions of Medicare dollars, the report said.
Midei, who is a doctor at the St. Joseph Medical Center in Townson, performed the operations between 2007 and 2009, and also received perks from the stents’ manufacturer, Abbott Labs, including a barbeque and crab dinner and money for other social events.
Senators Max Baucus (D—Mont.), the Committee’s Chairman, blasted the doctor’s actions as an inappropriate use of Medicare funds.
“Doctors should not be performing invasive medical procedures patients don’t need, and taxpayers certainly shouldn’t be paying for these wasteful and improper implantations,” Sen. Baucus said in a statement.
The report comes just as Congress passed a reprieve for Medicare pay cuts to doctors of 23 percent, stalling the physical pay slashes for at least another year.
The Committee warned that Midei’s improper use of Medicare pay was a symptom of a larger problem of waste and fraud that plagues America’s health care establishment.
“This could be a sign of a larger national trend of wasteful medical device use, which is why we included aggressive new tools in the new health care law to fight fraud, waste and abuse,” Sen. Baucus added.
Dr. Mark Midei, and who was unnamed in the Finance Committee report but identified by the New York Times and the Associated Press, allegedly implanted almost 600 stents—tiny tubes inserted into the body’s passageways during medical procedures such as surgery—into patients, “wasting” millions of Medicare dollars, the report said.
Midei, who is a doctor at the St. Joseph Medical Center in Townson, performed the operations between 2007 and 2009, and also received perks from the stents’ manufacturer, Abbott Labs, including a barbeque and crab dinner and money for other social events.
Senators Max Baucus (D—Mont.), the Committee’s Chairman, blasted the doctor’s actions as an inappropriate use of Medicare funds.
“Doctors should not be performing invasive medical procedures patients don’t need, and taxpayers certainly shouldn’t be paying for these wasteful and improper implantations,” Sen. Baucus said in a statement.
The report comes just as Congress passed a reprieve for Medicare pay cuts to doctors of 23 percent, stalling the physical pay slashes for at least another year.
The Committee warned that Midei’s improper use of Medicare pay was a symptom of a larger problem of waste and fraud that plagues America’s health care establishment.
“This could be a sign of a larger national trend of wasteful medical device use, which is why we included aggressive new tools in the new health care law to fight fraud, waste and abuse,” Sen. Baucus added.
Friends Read Free