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Attorney Andrew S. Feldman Discusses Anti Kickback Statute as Panelist at Annual Health Care Fraud Institute

Attorney Andrew S. Feldman Discusses Anti Kickback Statute as Panelist at Annual Health Care Fraud Institute 

Anti Kickback Statute attorney, Andrew S Feldman, discussed the Anti Kickback Statute while serving as a panelist at the Annual Health Care Fraud Institute in Palm Springs, California. Other panelists include defense attorneys and federal prosecutors from Cleveland and San Diego. The panelists discussed the health care fraud and abuse topics which are trending, including but not limited to, the uptick in prosecutions related to medical necessity, the proliferation of investigations related to compounding especially in relation to TriCare, pain and scar creams, and the speaker fee programs — the use of the Anti-Kickback Statute, in general, as a tool to combat health care fraud and abuse, and other significant trends.

Of significance, during the program, federal prosecutor, Michael Collyer, one of the panelists from the government who successfully prosecuted Harold Persaud for improperly implanting cardiac stents in patients and conducting useless, but expensive, nuclear stress tests described methodically the prosecution of Dr. Persaud and why his case was, for example, distinct from other physicians such as Dr. Amir Bajoghlu, a dermatologist in Northern Virginia who was acquitted after trial after having been accused of health care fraud and abuse related to the improper performance of Mohs surgeries.

Mr. Feldman is an Anti Kickback Statute attorney and frequent speaker on health care fraud and abuse issues and the Anti-Kickback Statute.  Mr. Feldman also represents compounding pharmacies in issues ranging from diversion to sterile compounding compliance with USP 797 and has represented compounding pharmacies in administrative proceedings before the Department of Health, grand jury investigations, and in investigations related to fraud and abuse within the Tricare program. As an Anti-Kickback Statute attorney Mr. Feldman has also represented sales and marketing professionals under investigation or charged with health care fraud and abuse.

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Attorney Andrew S. Feldman’s Article on Anti-Kickback Statute Included in ABA Health Lawyer

Attorney Andrew S. Feldman’s Article on Anti-Kickback Statute Included in ABA Health Lawyer

Anti-Kickback Statute attorney, Andrew S. Feldman, published an article on Anti-Kickback Statute  in the Winter Edition of the ABA Health Lawyer. A link to the Article may be found here.

The Article on the Anti-Kickback Statute discusses the shortage of cases addressing the second provision of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute which potentially criminalizes sales and marketing arrangements involving services, equipment, or items covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or TRICare. Mr. Feldman also argues that, in practice, plaintiffs and prosecutors have consistently ignored and substantially under-utilized the “recommending purchasing, leasing, or ordering” provision of the Anti-Kickback Statute in criminal prosecutions and qui tam actions in comparison to the Anti-Kickback Statute’s companion provision prohibiting referrals and also analyzes some of the underlying policy concerns that may have contributed to the lackluster enforcement of this apparently forgotten provision of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the dearth of federal criminal and False Claims Act cases addressing its application.

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Attorney Andrew S Feldman Discusses Health Care Fraud and Abuse Laws at Annual Osteopathic Winter Seminar

Attorney Andrew S Feldman Discusses Health Care Fraud and Abuse Laws at Annual Osteopathic Winter Seminar

Recently, health care fraud and abuse defense attorney Andrew S. Feldman was honored as a speaker at the Annual Osteopathic Winter Seminar sponsored by the Pinellas County Medical Society in Clearwater Beach, Florida. During the presentation, Mr. Feldman discussed federal and Florida laws impacting health care providers. More specifically, Mr. Feldman spoke to the 400 attendee physicians and doctors of osteopathy about medical ethics emphasizing the Florida and federal fraud and abuse laws including Stark, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act, the Florida Patient Self-Referrral Act, the Florida Patient Brokering statute, and the health care fraud statute which all impact physician practices.  Mr. Feldman used a variety of hypothetical situations during the presentation to demonstrate the intersection between ethical pitfalls and fraud and abuse laws affecting physician practices in Florida and nationwide. Attendees at the conference were able to interact with the speaker, Mr. Feldman, and to provide their comments regarding the hypothetical scenarios. Following the presentation, attendees were also eager to address some of the hypothetical examples raised during the presentation.

The three day Winter conference was attended by physicians statewide.

Health care fraud attorney, Mr. Feldman, is a frequent speaker on health care fraud and abuse issues and represents physicians, pharmacists, pharmacies, home health agencies, managers of assisted living facilities, and sales and marketing professionals in matters involving allegations of health care fraud and abuse, violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, pharmacy practice violations, and violations impacting compounding pharmacies.

If you are a doctor or a pharmacy under investigation, it is critical that you retain adequate and competent counsel.

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Indicting Doctors for Medical Malpractice

Indicting Doctors for Medical Malpractice in Florida and Nationwide

The Florida Bar Health Law Section recently included an article written by Andrew S. Feldman in the October Edition of Health Law Updates. The article focuses on the Department of Justice’s increasing commitment to prosecuting doctors including cardiologists, surgeons, dermatologists, and ophthalmologists based on allegations that the doctor has performed medically unnecessary services to defraud Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance companies. A link to the article on health care fraud and abuse can be found here and the article is below. 

Recently, the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice has bulked up on its health care fraud indictments against physicians and dermatologists for performing medically unnecessary surgeries or procedures. Indeed, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell reinforced during the ABA’s National Institute on Health Care Fraud and Abuse in May of this year that the Department is committed to aggressively prosecuting fraud that compromises patient safety. So far, the list of defendants includes interventional cardiologists, dermatologists, and spinal surgeons.

Nonetheless, more doctors turned defendants are forcing the government to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial in these cases. In September, esteemed ophthalmologist, Dr. David Pon, was convicted of 20 counts of health care fraud following a month long trial in Jacksonville, Florida. The evidence adduced at trial demonstrated that Pon intentionally misdiagnosed more than 500 Medicare beneficiaries as suffering from wet macular degeneration, a degenerative and incurable disease, and then used his false diagnoses to bill the Medicare program for unnecessary diagnostic testing and unwarranted laser treatments.

Similar to Dr. Pon, last month, cardiologist, Dr. Harold Persaud was also convicted of multiple counts of health care fraud based on evidence at trial demonstrating that Dr. Persaud falsely diagnosed patients and falsified documentation in order to implant cardiac stents in patients when stents were unnecessary. Significantly, at trial, Dr. Persaud asserted that he had a “good faith” defense to the health care fraud accusations reasoning that any surgeries were performed through mistakes or carelessness and were not performed to cheat or deceive the Medicare program and draining U.S. tax dollars.

The above physicians are not alone though. Future medical necessity prosecutions abound, including a health care prosecution targeting a South Florida ophthalmologists’ use of Lucentis injections to treat macular degeneration, and a prosecution of a dermatologist premised on the performance of alleged unnecessary Mohs surgeries. Both cases are set for trial in 2016.

Thus, in 2016, it is anticipated that the Department will continue to investigate and prosecute fraud in connection with the performance of unnecessary surgeries or procedures.

Feldman Firm has experience representing physicians and health care practitioners in health care fraud investigations and prosecutions. Contact the Feldman Firm if you have been accused of or are under investigation for health care fraud and abuse.

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Andrew S. Feldman Quoted in Law 360 Discusses How to Respond to IRS

Andrew S. Feldman Quoted in Law 360 Discusses How to Respond to IRS 

Attorney Andrew S. Feldman was recently quoted in Law 360 and discussed how to respond to IRS in  3 Tips For Responding to IRS Document Requests . The article discussed strategies for how to respond to the IRS and how to respond to an an IRS request for documents or an IRS summons.

RespondiIRSng to the IRS can be onerous and should not be done without the assistance of an experienced attorney. With the assistance of an attorney, you may evaluate which documents are relevant and, more importantly, which documents should be produced. Assessing which documents should be produced is a complicated task that you should not attempt to accomplish without the assistance of an attorney.  Hiring an attorney may also help a tax payer avoid the possibility of unknowingly or inadvertently producing documents that are potentially incriminating or contain privileged information. Further, if you decide not to produce certain documents, then the IRS may challenge your reasons for not producing those documents.

The IRS has also increased the amount of summonses (John Doe and otherwise) and document requests that they are sending to taxpayers related to foreign bank accounts and foreign assets or income. Taxpayers with unreported foreign bank accounts or foreign assets should also seriously consider contacting an experienced attorney prior to receiving a IRS request for documents or an IRS summons.

Mr. Feldman has experience with IRS investigations including responding to IRS summonses, criminal tax investigations, and investigations and audits involving foreign assets and foreign bank accounts.

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