Palmeto GBA was recently taken for 122 million in fraud over a 4 month period. This fraud came from the payment of 21,000 prosthetic devices to several companies in the Fort Lauderdale Florida area.
The Miami Herald has recently published an article about the case, where Federal Judge Altonaga has questioned the negligence and culpability of Palmeto GBA in the case.
For all the O and P folks that are accepting Medicare assignment in Region C, we have seen a campaign of harassment and intimidation against us over the past year. I believe that this case may have acted as the catalyst that initiated the hostility we are feeling when trying to get paid for our services.
I believe that Palmeto GBA realizes that they made some serious blunders here, and could ultimately lose their contract with Medicare. I believe that Palmeto is attempting to deflect their own negligence in paying out 122 million to UNLICENCED providers in a state that requires a license to provide prosthetics, by staging a witch hunt against the industry as a whole.
I know the level of frustration that the dedicated, honest, legitimate providers of O and P are feeling in region C. I have been in contact with my federal representatives as well as the media. I am educating them as to the reality of the campaign of harassment towards our industry. I have gotten patients involved, and am doing my share to inspire a grassroots effort to show the world the impossible position that we as a group, have been unjustly placed.
I encourage each and every one of you, to make your government officials and media aware of the problems you are having with Medicare/Palmeto GBA. This not only effects your own pocket book, it will have a very negative impact on the patients we are advocating and serve.
Please get involved!
Sincerely,
Wade Bader, CPO
Tampa, Florida
