In the wake
of an ABC News undercover investigation, federal authorities in Texas are
investigating how an active 82-year-old grandmother was diagnosed as homebound,
with a range of ailments that she did not have, including Type 2 diabetes,
opening the door to potentially tens of thousands of dollars in Medicare
payments for home health care, supplies and equipment she did not need.
A hidden
camera recorded the undercover grandmother's visit to a doctor in McAllen,
Texas, where she told the doctor and nurses she exercised regularly and, other
than some hypertension and arthritis, was in excellent health.
 |
Doris Ace,
grandmother to ABC News
producer Megan Chuchmach, went
undercover as part of an
ABC News
investigation in McAllen,
Texas.
|
Yet the
official certification sent to Medicare for home health care services indicate
she was homebound and suffered from two internal infections, incontinence and
needs "assistance in all activities, unable to safely leave home, severe
sob," an abbreviation for shortness of breath.
Mrs. Ace
had specifically told the doctor and her nurses she did not suffer from
incontinence or shortness of breath.
On a
patient referral form for home health care service, signed by the doctor, our
undercover grandmother was also wrongly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, even
though she was not given a blood test which doctors say is the only way to
authoritatively diagnose diabetes.
The overall
diagnosis of the undercover grandmother's health could have provided the justification
for what could be tens of thousand dollars a year worth of unneeded treatment
and medical supplies and equipment, federal investigators said in an interview
to be broadcast tonight on ABC News' "World News with Diane Sawyer"
and "Nightline".
"That's
fraud," said Tim Menke, senior adviser for investigations in the Inspector
General's office at the Department of Health and Human Services.
"Our
Medicare system is an honor system," said Menke after viewing the files
and the ABC News undercover tape of the doctor's office visit. "And
there's not much honor left in the system when you see things like that."
McAllen is
considered a hotbed of Medicare fraud by the Inspector General's office which
has already brought cases against a number of doctors and health care agencies
and has many others under investigation.
"The
fraud indicators are off the charts," said Menke of McAllen and
surrounding towns in the Rio Grande Valley. "We have ten of the top
physicians who have billed nearly $200 million in one specialty last year
alone."
Nationwide,
the Inspector General's office estimates that $60 billion dollars of taxpayer
money is lost to unchecked Medicare fraud every year.
"We've
seen it in Miami, Detroit and now in McAllen and it's very, very common,"
he said.
"They're
lying in order to steal from you and me and the taxpayers," he added.
The McAllen
doctor, Dr. Padmini Bhadriraju declined to comment to ABC News but denied any
wrongdoing through her lawyer.
The lawyer,
John Rivas, said the doctor acknowledged an "error" in the diabetes
diagnosis for ABC News' undercover grandmother on the patient referral form but
said, "this section was filled out by someone other than Dr.
Bhadriraju," even though he confirmed the doctor did fill out the majority
of the form and signed it in her handwriting.
Her
signature served as certification that "my clinical findings support that
this patient is homebound."
The
doctor's lawyer said neither the doctor nor others in her office knew who
filled in the incorrect diabetes diagnosis.
Rivas also
said the doctor played no role in the official certification form sent to
Medicare, although records show she billed Medicare for the review of the form
and its plan of care.
"The
records provided by ABC News do not support any allegations of fraud. It would
be irresponsible journalism to air a story on Medicare/Medicaid fraud using
this referral as an example when there is clearly no evidence of fraud,"
he added in a letter to ABC News.
ABC News
ended the undercover investigation before any medical supplies or equipment
could be billed to Medicare based on the false diagnosis.
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