Colorado Springs CO Medicare Attorney

Medicare fraud is a major drain on our country’s resources and deprives those who need health care the most from having sustainable access to it. It drives up the costs of our own health care, increases our tax burden, and occasionally results from medical malpractice. For that reason, the federal government has taken aim at doctors, patients, and other health care providers who falsify records, upcharge patients for tests and therapy they don’t receive, and put their patients through a barrage of unnecessary tests.

In an attempt to curb fraud and waste in the system, the federal government has made it easier (and more lucrative) for conscientious individuals to blow the whistle on fraudulent practices. In this article, we’ll talk about different kinds of Medicare fraud. We’ll also discuss how you Uncle Sam may reward you for turning in those who abuse the system. A Colorado Springs CO Medicare attorney at Brylak Law can help you pursue a claim.

You Can Receive Compensation for Reporting Medicare Fraud

Every American must pay into the system and a large portion of our tax money is allocated to Medicare. This money then goes to the elderly and disabled who rely on these funds in order to get the health care they desperately need. Fraudulent billing and other types of Medicare waste make it more difficult to sustain the system that so many of our loved ones rely on every day. They are the victims of this kind of Medicare fraud. However, so are we, and so are the future generations of Americans who may not have it because some have drained the fund dry.

Individuals from all walks of life have stepped forward to report these crimes. This includes doctors, nurses, hospital personnel, and patients. Some have been met with resistance, threats, and outright hostility. Some have illegally lost their jobs and had to sue to get them back. The government has made filing these lawsuits easier precisely for the purpose of preventing these kinds of scenarios where employees are afraid to step forward and blow the whistle.

Brylak Law Can Help Protect Whistleblowers

The federal government rewards those who blow the whistle on Medicare fraudsters by allowing the individual whistleblower to pursue their case for them. In some cases, the feds will take over the case. In others, they will allow you, with the help of a qualified Colorado Springs CO Medicare attorney, to pursue the case yourself. This saves them precious time and resources while simultaneously giving whistleblowers an incentive to move forward with a case.

These are called qui tam lawsuits and are filed under the False Claims Act. Whistleblowers who file a qui tam suit against Medicare fraudsters are entitled to recover a percentage of whatever the government recovers in the lawsuit. We can help you file these claims while reducing or eliminating your exposure and potential blowback.

Types of Medicare Fraud

Health care providers, doctors, and hospitals have unearthed a myriad of ways to defraud the American taxpayer. Some of the most popular include:

• Phantom billing is when a health care provider bills the patient’s insurance for procedures they never received. Since Medicare patients typically don’t get billing statements, the patient is usually unaware of what is happening.
• Bogus cost reports can be used by healthcare providers whom Medicare makes regular payments to. If Medicare overpays for services rendered, they can seek to recover the different at the end of the year. Sometimes, these health care providers fudge the numbers so that Medicare doesn’t realize it’s overpaid for services. This is fraud.
• Unnecessary testing. Sometimes doctors will send patients for scores of unnecessary tests in order to bill them exorbitant rates. The patients don’t notice when they’re not receiving billing statements and the doctor’s make a premium by charging Medicare. Not only is this considered fraud, but it’s also considered medical malpractice.
• Inflating statistics. In some instances, hospitals with sterling records for surgical procedures or other treatments can bill insurance companies extra for their care. Other times, hospitals misreport this data for the sole purpose of charging insurance companies more money. This too is fraud.

How Can a Colorado Springs CO Medicare Attorney Help You?

If you have first-hand evidence of a health care provider committing Medicare fraud, you stand to make quite a bit of money for pursuing charges against them. The attorneys at Brylak Law can help you file that suit and protect you from potential retaliation by your employer. Together, we will file a lawsuit on the government’s behalf. We will try to recover the money that the health care provider stole from Medicare.

Talk to a Colorado Springs CO Medicare Attorney Today

You can recover anywhere from 15% to 30% of the overall cost to the fraud defendant. Since the government tacks on a fine of three times the amount of money they stole, you stand to reap a sizable reward. If you’ve caught your employer committing fraud, contact a Colorado Springs CO Medicare attorney at Brylak Law today.