McHenry County Blog

The Federal government released statistics about how hospitals treat Medicare patients today. Or at least in Fiscal Year 2007.

I looked that the two Centegra hospitals, in Woodstock and McHenry, plus Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington.

Under whether a hospital did an apparently needed heart test, here's what I found (all images can be enlarged by clicking on them):

What patients say about nursing care can be seen below:

I also found a 30-day heart problem death rate chart, which you can see here:

The least favorable index I found was whether one's hospital was quiet enough at night. NOT.

Note that the three local hospitals were pretty close to the norm on each of the measures I looked at, except keeping the rooms quiet at night. Looks like there is room for improvement there.

All charts can be enlarged.

Labels: Centegra, Good Shepherd Hospital, Medicare

A Melissa Bean story popped up on my screen yesterday. I don't check out all of them, but this link led to OpEdNews.com.

The post was an article by John Olsen entitled,


Olsen tells of contacting caseworker Nicholas Jordan, Bean's Director of Constituent Services, in 2005 "on behalf of his stepfather and now deceased mother."

Olsen conveyed a complaint with a managed care provider with lots of documentation. He claims that showed the Medicare provider circumvented numerous federal regulations.

I know how I would have handled the inquiry. Not being an expert in such regulations, I would have sent the information to the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Here's a sample paragraph (turned into more than one paragraph so you can read it easier):

"Jordan eventually mailed a 'letter of inquiry' regarding the issue, but:

• He mailed it to the wrong place, AdminiStar Federal, a company that has a contract with the Federal government to oversee the policies of beneficiaries enrolled directly in Medicare


• He misidentified the issue.


• He failed to provide us with the 'answers' that he claimed to have received.

"Jordan had told me that he was going to send a letter to AdminiStar Federal.

"I then had advised Jordan that instead he should direct any correspondence to Matthew Brown, who at that time was the CMS Congressional Liaison in Washington.

"I explained to him that my stepfather and my mother were Medicare + Choice [now Medicare Advantage] beneficiaries, and CMS itself oversees those policies.

"Jordan chose to ignore me.

"Jordan misidentified the issue as being about the quality of 'health care' that had been delivered.

"It is difficult to understand how Jordan made this error, because I had repeatedly told him that the issue was that Federal regulations had been violated.

"Bean is not a doctor, and I did not ask her office to become involved in a medical issue."

After an unsatisfactory discussion with Jordan, on June 30, 2005, Olsen called John Gonzalez, Bean's Chief of Staff. He promised to call back by the 4th of July.

He didn't.

Olsen suggests Bean be held accountable.

I'm not going to suggest that a caseworker can be on the top of his or her game 100% of the time, but even only hearing one side of the story, Bean's office seems to have had room for improvement.

Labels: 8th Congressional District, Medicare, Melissa Bean, Nicholas Jordan

$36.7 million is flowing into public treasuries across the country and into one whistleblower's pocket as a result of actions by the Chicago office of the U.S. Attorney.

Coordinating with the 49-state National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, CVS Caremark Corp. has agreed to the multi-million 2000 through 2006 ettlement initiated by a whistle blower suit.

No liability was admitted, however.

The gist of the suit was that tablets of Zantac were substituted for capsules.

Here's the earl;y 2001 cost differential: Illinois Medicaid was charged $79.80 instead of $17.10 per 60 tablet prescription for a difference of $62.70.

“Switching medication from tablets to capsules might seem harmless, but when that is done solely to increase profit and in violation of federal and state regulations that are designed to protect patients, pharmacies must know that they are subjecting themselves to the possibility of triple damages, civil penalties and attorney fees,” U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said.

Illinois state government gets $241,110. The Feds get $21 million.

Whistleblower Bernard Lisitza will receive $4,309,330.74—almost 12% of the settlement--as his share of the federal and state settlements. Pharmacist Lisitza also initiated a similar, unrelated lawsuit, settled in November 2006, against Omnicare, Inc. of Covington, Kentucky.

Assistant United States attorney Linda A. Wawzenski handled the case for Fitzgerald.

You can read the whole press release here.

Labels: Bernard Lisitza, Caremark, CVS, CVS Caremark, Linda A. Wawzenski, Medicair Fraud, Medicare, Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney, Whistleblower, Zantac

Yes.

It’s the back of my Medicare Card.

It’s that time of life.

I've officially entered geezerhood.

And the State of Illinois, which provides my health coverage, gets to shift most of the burden to the federal taxpayer.

Labels: Geezerhood, Medicare