Narcan: The anti-drug drug - NashuaTelegraph.com
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Narcan: The anti-drug drug
By JOSEPH G. COTE
Staff Writer
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There are only a couple of drugs that EMTs and paramedics carry that produce immediate effects.
One of them, according to Chris Stawasz, is Narcan, and it’s a wonder drug.
Stawasz is the executive director of Rockingham Regional Ambulance, the state’s largest emergency medical services company.
The company’s 175 paramedics and EMTs administered 255 does of Narcan in 2010 to immediately and dramatically reverse the effects of overdoses of heroin and other narcotics.
“It’s one of the few drugs we carry that you can see an instantaneous effect,” Stawasz said.
That’s compared with 195 doses used in 2009, but doesn’t necessarily equate to the number of overdoses the company deals with, Stawasz said.
Statewide, Narcan was used 768 times in 2010, according to the state Bureau of Emergency Services.
Still, there appears to be a growing trend on the radar. Nashua Police investigated six heroin-related deaths in 2010, compared with three in 2009 and four in 2008, according to Nashua Police Lt. Scott Hammond.
Narcan, a branded version of naoloxone, is a “narcotic antagonist,” Stawasz said. It essentially latches onto the same opioid receptors that heroin and other narcotic drugs do. But since Narcan is stronger, it blocks blood cells’ opiate receptors, meaning the narcotics have nowhere to hang onto and are therefore useless.
In practice, that means when the drug is administered – intravenously, intramuscularly or by nasal spray – an overdose victim recovers almost instantly, Stawasz said.
Those unfortunate overdose victims can be almost literally dead, not breathing and heart not beating, and within seconds of the Narcan being given, have beating hearts and breathing lungs, and are almost back to normal, Stawasz said.
The other drug that produces such instant results is D50 – or Dextrose 50 – that EMTs and paramedics give to patients in the midst of a diabetic emergency, Stawasz said.
There are several reasons to explain why the number of times Narcan is given doesn’t directly correlate to the number of overdoses Rockingham Ambulance crews have dealt with.
For one, if the victim has already died because of an overdose, the drug is useless. There are also more complicated medical factors that may prevent its use, Stawasz said.
Stawasz agrees with Hammond that drug use is still on the rise in Nashua.
“What we’re seeing is people mixing narcotics, trying to enhance the effects of heroin,” Stawasz said.
There are any number of ways to do that, Stawasz said, including chewing Oxycontin pills or a Fentynol patch while shooting or smoking heroin.
“I would say drug use overall has gotten a lot worse,” he said.
Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com.
Isabella Brooke Knightly and Austin Gamez-Knightly
In Memory of my Loving Husband, William F. Knightly Jr. Murdered by ILLEGAL Palliative Care at a Nashua, NH Hospital
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Local woman tells tale of her struggle to kick heroin habit - NashuaTelegraph.com
Local woman tells tale of her struggle to kick heroin habit - NashuaTelegraph.com
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Local woman tells tale of her struggle to kick heroin habit
By JOSEPH G. COTE
Staff Writer
PrintShare 8 Comments
Enlarge
heroin-related deaths
Nashua Police Lt. Scott Hammond said it’s often difficult to prosecute heroin dealers when their customers overdose or die on bad heroin because those customers almost always have other drugs in their systems, making it impossible to pinpoint heroin as the cause of death. That also makes it difficult to estimate how many people in the city have died because of heroin, but police have investigated 13 heroin-related deaths in the past three years, Hammond said. Here’s the breakdown.
2008: 4.
2009: 3.
2010: 6.
Stacy wanted to die, but the dope never stops calling.
During each of her half dozen daily drug runs to Lawrence, Mass., every time she used someone else’s needle despite what diseases they may have had, through all the tearful phone calls to her mother and bouts of “dope sick,” Stacy just wanted it to stop.
“At that point, I wanted to die. Every needle, I hoped for it,” the 20-year-old Hudson resident said in October, barely a month removed from her last shot in a 7-Eleven bathroom on the way to rehab.
Among so-called hard drugs, there are four substances that are used most in the Nashua region, according to experts: cocaine, crack cocaine, Oxycodone and heroin. While heroin isn’t the most popular among those – cocaine still holds that dubious honor – heroin is regarded as the most dangerous.
Police have investigated 13 “heroin-related” deaths in the last three years, a scary number in a city of Nashua’s size that are at least partially attributed to a single drug.
“Heroin has been on the increase in our area in the last few years,” Nashua Police Lt. Scott Hammond said. “I think it still falls below cocaine, but the difference is the danger. It’s totally different than coke.”
qqq
Stacy’s downward spiral, a brief and delicate recovery, and finally a relapse, was swift.
She grew up one of four kids in a fairly wealthy Hudson home. Her childhood was largely normal – lots of family vacations, good grades in school.
Stacy first tried marijuana during her sophomore year in high school. The debate about whether weed is a “gateway drug” will rage on, but for Stacy’s mother, the answer is clear. The drug opened the door to everything else for her daughter, she said – namely, four years of heavy drug use, inestimable damage to her body and a miscarriage, as well as damaged and destructive relationships.
“It definitely started there. The weed changed her drastically,” Mom said. “It definitely led her into other stuff.”
Stacy’s mother said pot made Stacy angry and paranoid. She suddenly wasn’t living with the same funny, outgoing teenager she’d grown used to.
“She was so withdrawn and thought the world was against her,” Mom said.
Stacy smoked pot throughout high school, chasing a high that would chill her out and calm her down. It was a high that got ever further away as her intake, and tolerance to the drug, grew.
When Stacy enrolled at Plymouth State College, it was, ironically, as a criminal justice major. There, she began experimenting heavily with other drugs, chasing the high that she got less and less frequently with marijuana. There wasn’t much she didn’t try – LSD, cocaine, mushrooms, every pill imaginable.
Stacy would try something new each weekend at parties, and continued smoking tremendous amounts of marijuana. Soon, she stopped going to classes and dropped out before completing her freshman year.
She worked for a government agency for a while after moving back to the Nashua area and liked the work very much. She was dating and living with her boss there, and was fired when they broke up. She turned to selling marijuana to pay the bills and feed her own habit.
Soon, she was moving about a “Q” – a quarter of a pound – every couple of days. She got the drugs on consignment from her dealer, meaning he gave her the drugs on credit, essentially, and told her how much she owed him. She would sell enough to pay him back and smoke the rest.
“I had like an ounce to my face,” Stacy said.
But it wasn’t until the second half of 2009 that things got truly bad for Stacy.
qqq
It began with abusive relationships with two men. One of them got her pregnant, and on Jan. 4, she had a miscarriage.
Stacy was living with her boyfriend at the time, and giving him rides to and from work. He started calling for rides home very late at night, and Stacy eventually learned he was hanging out with co-workers and shooting heroin.
She had to try it.
The first time she used it, Stacy snorted the brownish powder and was told what a waste that was. The potency is much higher and results quicker, she learned, when it’s smoked or injected.
But she was terrified of needles, almost a phobia. Her boyfriend told her she wouldn’t even feel it. She needed that high. She closed her eyes and he found a vein.
“And he was right. I didn’t feel the needle,” Stacy said. “Within five seconds, it was like, ‘This is what I’ve been missing.’ It was like you were untouchable.”
The plan that weekend had been to buy a gram of heroin, use it over the weekend and then return to real life. When the gram ran out about three days later, Stacy stopped and didn’t plan on taking more.
Then came the dope sick.
The withdrawal, Stacy said, is an indescribably uncomfortable, unbearable sense of restlessness, like her “blood was tingling upstream.”
She started “kicking,” constantly flicking and shaking her arms and legs. She described the feeling as the buzzing, tickling sensation that comes when you whack your funny bones, but without the pain.
She was sweating, but shivering, incredibly nauseous and constantly running to the bathroom, but “it’s mainly the kicking” that made being dope sick so miserable, she said.
The only thing that helped a little bit was being in the shower.
“I sat in the shower and cried,” Stacy said.
Eventually, she fell asleep with the shower running, and when she woke up, “I was on the run.”
qqq
The ruthless and, too often, immediate physical addiction to heroin is one of the most dangerous and gut-wrenching aspects of the drug to Hammond, a veteran narcotics detective in charge of the Nashua Police Department’s drug division. It’s a different kind of addiction, he said.
“It just really physically attacks your body,” he said. “And depending on the quality of it and your tolerance for heroin, you could be hooked for life.”
Stacy looked at heroin as she had any number of drugs she had tried during her time at college, something to try for a night or a weekend and then move on. But once the first few doses do their work inside a user’s body, sometimes there just isn’t a choice about stopping. All the logic and iron will in the world can sometimes flail against the basic demands of one’s body.
“The worst thing about heroin is it’s far more addictive,” said Brett Harpster, who handles the bulk of the county’s drug cases as an assistant Hillsborough County attorney. “It becomes a chemical part of your body that you need to thrive and survive.”
Many people make a mistake, Harpster said, and try a little marijuana or cocaine. But that same mistake can come at a much steeper price if that same person decides to try a little “H.”
“Heroin is much different, sadly,” he said.
That, to Hammond, is a frustrating and frightening aspect of the drug. Unlike other substance abusers using cocaine or marijuana to get high, many heroin users are driven back to the needle to feel normal, to simply avoid debilitating illness.
“That choice really gets taken away from you,” he said.
Many users aren’t “junkies,” Hammond said, but otherwise successful students, business people or parents. Others fall too far, and a heroin addict is more likely than a cocaine addict, for example, to turn to lying, stealing and cheating because they are so desperate for their next fix.
“They’ve got that monkey on their back, and they’ll do whatever they can to get that next fix,” he said.
qqq
For Stacy, “on the run,” turned into an overwhelming decomposition of her body over the next nine months, along with many of the basic social limits she had grown up to follow.
Soon, the same gram that had lasted three days was one-third of what she was shooting in a day. She got over her fear of needles, because her boyfriend went to jail and wasn’t around to shoot her up.
She lost close to one-quarter of her body weight and tipped the scales at a little more than 80 pounds. That was because she preferred heroin to food. Besides, there was no hunger when she was high.
“The bag was more important than the food,” Stacy said.
Personal hygiene went out the window, too. Her mother remembers the sty that Stacy’s apartment turned into. She smelled. Her feet were black with filth. Her mother remembers most Stacy’s overwhelming lethargy.
Stacy had “a connect” in Lawrence, and a lot of people in the Nashua area knew it. Her cell phone rang constantly as fellow users looked to her to score heroin from her dealer in the Bay State. She would do it, often six or eight times a day, in exchange for a ride to Lawrence and a cut of whatever was bought. Sometimes that was half-fingers or fingers – a 10-gram bag – at a time.
If that arrangement wasn’t working, Stacy wasn’t above taking people’s money and stranding them. She threatened one person with a syringe of her blood, telling them they would get AIDS if she stabbed them, and took their drugs or money. She traded sexual favors for drugs – her boyfriend even sent her to do it sometimes – when they didn’t have cash.
She wanted to die, and ran that risk often.
qqq
There are only a few places in New Hampshire where you can buy the needles and syringes that help make up the “rig” necessary to shoot heroin without a prescription.
Rigs also included things such as spoons and tourniquets, Hammond said.
But if it’s a Sunday, or late, users’ options are to drive to a Massachusetts pharmacy or use someone else’s rig. But when need it, Stacy said, driving to Massachusetts isn’t an option at all.
It was such a situation in which she resorted to using a friend’s rig. That person had hepatitis C. Stacy knew that and used the needle anyway.
“Physically, the dope sickness wasn’t worth the risk,” she said.
Stacy has since been diagnosed with hepatitis C, a viral disease that can lead to permanent liver damage in addition to many other symptoms.
The only thing she didn’t do while “on the run” was steal from her family, one of the few things from those long months she is grateful for. That would have destroyed the only connection to a civilized life she had left.
“I was so sick of it. It wore me out,” Stacy said. “I wanted to stop, and you just can’t.”
As it was, she spent a lot of time sleeping in her car. Then, that broke down, in the woods in Hudson near her boyfriend’s house. Her parents couldn’t deal with that and moved her into a small pool house on their property, but wouldn’t let her in the house unless her siblings weren’t home.
For a while, Stacy’s mom let her in the house in the morning to use the bathroom and then drove her to a homeless shelter in Nashua.
She needed her family. Too many times, she called her mother, crazed from the withdrawal, and bawled, begged for help, some kind of relief.
It made her mother sick – literally, physically sick.
“It was shutting me down,” Mom said. “You have no idea what it’s done to me.”
Stacy’s family tried everything to find her help, but ran into a brick wall because Stacy didn’t have health insurance. Private facilities wanted $10,000, $30,000, even $50,000 up front to admit her without insurance. Meanwhile, Stacy worked up the energy and will to call free programs, which had enormous waiting lists.
“That was the worst thing in the world, wanting help and not being able to get it,” Mom said.
Stacy’s father said the shortest waiting list he found was two weeks.
“To somebody in that situation, two weeks is a lifetime,” he said. “When they make a decision to go, it’s got to be right then and there. Two weeks later, they’re right back down the rabbit hole, and you’re not going to get them out. It was extremely frustrating.”
Eventually, Stacy was able to lie her way into a Massachusetts detox center. A woman working at a Bay State homeless shelter agreed to vouch that Stacy had been living there, giving her an in at the detox center.
“That woman’s a saint,” Mom said.
Her mother was just about at the end of her rope. She had considered everything, called in every favor she could, even considered tying Stacy to her bed for a weekend with the help of friends until one friend told her how dangerous the withdrawals could be.
Afterward, Stacy moved back in with her boyfriend and was soon rationalizing more heroin use. At first, she told herself she would use it just once more. Then said she’d use it once a week.
“And I was on the run,” she said.
Nashua Police arrested Stacy on Sept. 1 for traffic violations. Five days later, she got into another Massachusetts detox center. Her mother drove her there and stopped at a 7-Eleven on the way. Stacy shot up in the convenience store bathroom for the last time.
After the detox, she entered a 28-day rehab program in Dorchester, Mass., and has been clean since. She’s back over 100 pounds and her track marks are fading.
Now, she goes to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and sees a psychiatrist. She goes to an outpatient addiction support program three times a week and calls it the highlight of her week.
Stacy is living with her father, who has since divorced her mother. He said he’s confident she isn’t using, but is walking a tightrope trying to support her and at the same time empower her to be independent.
“I’m walking a fine line keeping a 20-year-old under as much control as I can, but she can walk out of here any day she wants and there’s nothing I can do,” he said.
Stacy was in trouble again when local police arrested her for DUI in early December and found heroin in her possession. She was held in jail pending a probable cause hearing, and her family arranged for her to enter a six-month treatment facility in Massachusetts in the hopes that she is released soon, her mother said.
Before her arrest, Stacy said recovery was hard, but getting easier than when she first came home. Then, everything reminded her of dope: shoelaces, someone’s veins, eating with a spoon.
But she had a mantra that she repeats each morning when she wakes up: “ ‘Stace, have you ever met a successful, truly happy addict?’ I don’t know one.”
“Now, I can finally sleep. It’s been a while since I had that,” Stacy said. “I don’t know. Live and learn. I lived. I lived hell on Earth. I lost myself, but when you get clean, you start to find yourself.”
Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Local woman tells tale of her struggle to kick heroin habit
By JOSEPH G. COTE
Staff Writer
PrintShare 8 Comments
Enlarge
heroin-related deaths
Nashua Police Lt. Scott Hammond said it’s often difficult to prosecute heroin dealers when their customers overdose or die on bad heroin because those customers almost always have other drugs in their systems, making it impossible to pinpoint heroin as the cause of death. That also makes it difficult to estimate how many people in the city have died because of heroin, but police have investigated 13 heroin-related deaths in the past three years, Hammond said. Here’s the breakdown.
2008: 4.
2009: 3.
2010: 6.
Stacy wanted to die, but the dope never stops calling.
During each of her half dozen daily drug runs to Lawrence, Mass., every time she used someone else’s needle despite what diseases they may have had, through all the tearful phone calls to her mother and bouts of “dope sick,” Stacy just wanted it to stop.
“At that point, I wanted to die. Every needle, I hoped for it,” the 20-year-old Hudson resident said in October, barely a month removed from her last shot in a 7-Eleven bathroom on the way to rehab.
Among so-called hard drugs, there are four substances that are used most in the Nashua region, according to experts: cocaine, crack cocaine, Oxycodone and heroin. While heroin isn’t the most popular among those – cocaine still holds that dubious honor – heroin is regarded as the most dangerous.
Police have investigated 13 “heroin-related” deaths in the last three years, a scary number in a city of Nashua’s size that are at least partially attributed to a single drug.
“Heroin has been on the increase in our area in the last few years,” Nashua Police Lt. Scott Hammond said. “I think it still falls below cocaine, but the difference is the danger. It’s totally different than coke.”
qqq
Stacy’s downward spiral, a brief and delicate recovery, and finally a relapse, was swift.
She grew up one of four kids in a fairly wealthy Hudson home. Her childhood was largely normal – lots of family vacations, good grades in school.
Stacy first tried marijuana during her sophomore year in high school. The debate about whether weed is a “gateway drug” will rage on, but for Stacy’s mother, the answer is clear. The drug opened the door to everything else for her daughter, she said – namely, four years of heavy drug use, inestimable damage to her body and a miscarriage, as well as damaged and destructive relationships.
“It definitely started there. The weed changed her drastically,” Mom said. “It definitely led her into other stuff.”
Stacy’s mother said pot made Stacy angry and paranoid. She suddenly wasn’t living with the same funny, outgoing teenager she’d grown used to.
“She was so withdrawn and thought the world was against her,” Mom said.
Stacy smoked pot throughout high school, chasing a high that would chill her out and calm her down. It was a high that got ever further away as her intake, and tolerance to the drug, grew.
When Stacy enrolled at Plymouth State College, it was, ironically, as a criminal justice major. There, she began experimenting heavily with other drugs, chasing the high that she got less and less frequently with marijuana. There wasn’t much she didn’t try – LSD, cocaine, mushrooms, every pill imaginable.
Stacy would try something new each weekend at parties, and continued smoking tremendous amounts of marijuana. Soon, she stopped going to classes and dropped out before completing her freshman year.
She worked for a government agency for a while after moving back to the Nashua area and liked the work very much. She was dating and living with her boss there, and was fired when they broke up. She turned to selling marijuana to pay the bills and feed her own habit.
Soon, she was moving about a “Q” – a quarter of a pound – every couple of days. She got the drugs on consignment from her dealer, meaning he gave her the drugs on credit, essentially, and told her how much she owed him. She would sell enough to pay him back and smoke the rest.
“I had like an ounce to my face,” Stacy said.
But it wasn’t until the second half of 2009 that things got truly bad for Stacy.
qqq
It began with abusive relationships with two men. One of them got her pregnant, and on Jan. 4, she had a miscarriage.
Stacy was living with her boyfriend at the time, and giving him rides to and from work. He started calling for rides home very late at night, and Stacy eventually learned he was hanging out with co-workers and shooting heroin.
She had to try it.
The first time she used it, Stacy snorted the brownish powder and was told what a waste that was. The potency is much higher and results quicker, she learned, when it’s smoked or injected.
But she was terrified of needles, almost a phobia. Her boyfriend told her she wouldn’t even feel it. She needed that high. She closed her eyes and he found a vein.
“And he was right. I didn’t feel the needle,” Stacy said. “Within five seconds, it was like, ‘This is what I’ve been missing.’ It was like you were untouchable.”
The plan that weekend had been to buy a gram of heroin, use it over the weekend and then return to real life. When the gram ran out about three days later, Stacy stopped and didn’t plan on taking more.
Then came the dope sick.
The withdrawal, Stacy said, is an indescribably uncomfortable, unbearable sense of restlessness, like her “blood was tingling upstream.”
She started “kicking,” constantly flicking and shaking her arms and legs. She described the feeling as the buzzing, tickling sensation that comes when you whack your funny bones, but without the pain.
She was sweating, but shivering, incredibly nauseous and constantly running to the bathroom, but “it’s mainly the kicking” that made being dope sick so miserable, she said.
The only thing that helped a little bit was being in the shower.
“I sat in the shower and cried,” Stacy said.
Eventually, she fell asleep with the shower running, and when she woke up, “I was on the run.”
qqq
The ruthless and, too often, immediate physical addiction to heroin is one of the most dangerous and gut-wrenching aspects of the drug to Hammond, a veteran narcotics detective in charge of the Nashua Police Department’s drug division. It’s a different kind of addiction, he said.
“It just really physically attacks your body,” he said. “And depending on the quality of it and your tolerance for heroin, you could be hooked for life.”
Stacy looked at heroin as she had any number of drugs she had tried during her time at college, something to try for a night or a weekend and then move on. But once the first few doses do their work inside a user’s body, sometimes there just isn’t a choice about stopping. All the logic and iron will in the world can sometimes flail against the basic demands of one’s body.
“The worst thing about heroin is it’s far more addictive,” said Brett Harpster, who handles the bulk of the county’s drug cases as an assistant Hillsborough County attorney. “It becomes a chemical part of your body that you need to thrive and survive.”
Many people make a mistake, Harpster said, and try a little marijuana or cocaine. But that same mistake can come at a much steeper price if that same person decides to try a little “H.”
“Heroin is much different, sadly,” he said.
That, to Hammond, is a frustrating and frightening aspect of the drug. Unlike other substance abusers using cocaine or marijuana to get high, many heroin users are driven back to the needle to feel normal, to simply avoid debilitating illness.
“That choice really gets taken away from you,” he said.
Many users aren’t “junkies,” Hammond said, but otherwise successful students, business people or parents. Others fall too far, and a heroin addict is more likely than a cocaine addict, for example, to turn to lying, stealing and cheating because they are so desperate for their next fix.
“They’ve got that monkey on their back, and they’ll do whatever they can to get that next fix,” he said.
qqq
For Stacy, “on the run,” turned into an overwhelming decomposition of her body over the next nine months, along with many of the basic social limits she had grown up to follow.
Soon, the same gram that had lasted three days was one-third of what she was shooting in a day. She got over her fear of needles, because her boyfriend went to jail and wasn’t around to shoot her up.
She lost close to one-quarter of her body weight and tipped the scales at a little more than 80 pounds. That was because she preferred heroin to food. Besides, there was no hunger when she was high.
“The bag was more important than the food,” Stacy said.
Personal hygiene went out the window, too. Her mother remembers the sty that Stacy’s apartment turned into. She smelled. Her feet were black with filth. Her mother remembers most Stacy’s overwhelming lethargy.
Stacy had “a connect” in Lawrence, and a lot of people in the Nashua area knew it. Her cell phone rang constantly as fellow users looked to her to score heroin from her dealer in the Bay State. She would do it, often six or eight times a day, in exchange for a ride to Lawrence and a cut of whatever was bought. Sometimes that was half-fingers or fingers – a 10-gram bag – at a time.
If that arrangement wasn’t working, Stacy wasn’t above taking people’s money and stranding them. She threatened one person with a syringe of her blood, telling them they would get AIDS if she stabbed them, and took their drugs or money. She traded sexual favors for drugs – her boyfriend even sent her to do it sometimes – when they didn’t have cash.
She wanted to die, and ran that risk often.
qqq
There are only a few places in New Hampshire where you can buy the needles and syringes that help make up the “rig” necessary to shoot heroin without a prescription.
Rigs also included things such as spoons and tourniquets, Hammond said.
But if it’s a Sunday, or late, users’ options are to drive to a Massachusetts pharmacy or use someone else’s rig. But when need it, Stacy said, driving to Massachusetts isn’t an option at all.
It was such a situation in which she resorted to using a friend’s rig. That person had hepatitis C. Stacy knew that and used the needle anyway.
“Physically, the dope sickness wasn’t worth the risk,” she said.
Stacy has since been diagnosed with hepatitis C, a viral disease that can lead to permanent liver damage in addition to many other symptoms.
The only thing she didn’t do while “on the run” was steal from her family, one of the few things from those long months she is grateful for. That would have destroyed the only connection to a civilized life she had left.
“I was so sick of it. It wore me out,” Stacy said. “I wanted to stop, and you just can’t.”
As it was, she spent a lot of time sleeping in her car. Then, that broke down, in the woods in Hudson near her boyfriend’s house. Her parents couldn’t deal with that and moved her into a small pool house on their property, but wouldn’t let her in the house unless her siblings weren’t home.
For a while, Stacy’s mom let her in the house in the morning to use the bathroom and then drove her to a homeless shelter in Nashua.
She needed her family. Too many times, she called her mother, crazed from the withdrawal, and bawled, begged for help, some kind of relief.
It made her mother sick – literally, physically sick.
“It was shutting me down,” Mom said. “You have no idea what it’s done to me.”
Stacy’s family tried everything to find her help, but ran into a brick wall because Stacy didn’t have health insurance. Private facilities wanted $10,000, $30,000, even $50,000 up front to admit her without insurance. Meanwhile, Stacy worked up the energy and will to call free programs, which had enormous waiting lists.
“That was the worst thing in the world, wanting help and not being able to get it,” Mom said.
Stacy’s father said the shortest waiting list he found was two weeks.
“To somebody in that situation, two weeks is a lifetime,” he said. “When they make a decision to go, it’s got to be right then and there. Two weeks later, they’re right back down the rabbit hole, and you’re not going to get them out. It was extremely frustrating.”
Eventually, Stacy was able to lie her way into a Massachusetts detox center. A woman working at a Bay State homeless shelter agreed to vouch that Stacy had been living there, giving her an in at the detox center.
“That woman’s a saint,” Mom said.
Her mother was just about at the end of her rope. She had considered everything, called in every favor she could, even considered tying Stacy to her bed for a weekend with the help of friends until one friend told her how dangerous the withdrawals could be.
Afterward, Stacy moved back in with her boyfriend and was soon rationalizing more heroin use. At first, she told herself she would use it just once more. Then said she’d use it once a week.
“And I was on the run,” she said.
Nashua Police arrested Stacy on Sept. 1 for traffic violations. Five days later, she got into another Massachusetts detox center. Her mother drove her there and stopped at a 7-Eleven on the way. Stacy shot up in the convenience store bathroom for the last time.
After the detox, she entered a 28-day rehab program in Dorchester, Mass., and has been clean since. She’s back over 100 pounds and her track marks are fading.
Now, she goes to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and sees a psychiatrist. She goes to an outpatient addiction support program three times a week and calls it the highlight of her week.
Stacy is living with her father, who has since divorced her mother. He said he’s confident she isn’t using, but is walking a tightrope trying to support her and at the same time empower her to be independent.
“I’m walking a fine line keeping a 20-year-old under as much control as I can, but she can walk out of here any day she wants and there’s nothing I can do,” he said.
Stacy was in trouble again when local police arrested her for DUI in early December and found heroin in her possession. She was held in jail pending a probable cause hearing, and her family arranged for her to enter a six-month treatment facility in Massachusetts in the hopes that she is released soon, her mother said.
Before her arrest, Stacy said recovery was hard, but getting easier than when she first came home. Then, everything reminded her of dope: shoelaces, someone’s veins, eating with a spoon.
But she had a mantra that she repeats each morning when she wakes up: “ ‘Stace, have you ever met a successful, truly happy addict?’ I don’t know one.”
“Now, I can finally sleep. It’s been a while since I had that,” Stacy said. “I don’t know. Live and learn. I lived. I lived hell on Earth. I lost myself, but when you get clean, you start to find yourself.”
Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com.
Fighting for grandparents
Parksville Qualicum News - Fighting for grandparents
By Steven Heywood - Parksville Qualicum Beach News
Published: January 06, 2011 7:00 PM
Updated: January 07, 2011 1:45 PM
When divorce hits a family, it can have a profoundly painful impact on children, often caught in the middle of their parents’ dispute.
Making matters worse, when custody issues are worked out through the courts in Canada, children are sometimes victimized again by being denied access to one of their parents and even their grandparents.
For more than 13 years, it has been Daphne Jennings’ goal to change the divorce law in this country, to allow grandparents to have more access to their grandchildren and be a calming, soothing factor when a family breaks up.
By Steven Heywood - Parksville Qualicum Beach News
Published: January 06, 2011 7:00 PM
Updated: January 07, 2011 1:45 PM
When divorce hits a family, it can have a profoundly painful impact on children, often caught in the middle of their parents’ dispute.
Making matters worse, when custody issues are worked out through the courts in Canada, children are sometimes victimized again by being denied access to one of their parents and even their grandparents.
For more than 13 years, it has been Daphne Jennings’ goal to change the divorce law in this country, to allow grandparents to have more access to their grandchildren and be a calming, soothing factor when a family breaks up.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Psychdata - Dedicated to exposing the fraud of psychiatry: "Should we Demand Criminal Prosecution?" New Hampshire Newspaper on Antipsychotics
Psychdata - Dedicated to exposing the fraud of psychiatry: "Should we Demand Criminal Prosecution?" New Hampshire Newspaper on Antipsychotics
By Bryan Flagg
Last January, Northcountry News exposed that New Hampshire had led the nation in per capita methylphenidate (includes drugs like Ritalin and Concerta) purchases for eight straight years. While proponents of the drug try to convince you that this amphetamine-type drug is safe, only a little internet research will show you that it’s similar to, but more powerful than cocaine, can cause tourette’s syndrome, heart problems, suicide, hallucinations and much more. While few kids were on any type of psychiatric drug when I was young, about 4 million nationally are prescribed this and other amphetamines today.
Nobody would ever even try to claim that psychiatry’s most powerful drugs, antipsychotics, are mild and there’s very little FDA-approval of these drugs for children. In the past, it was almost unheard of for a child to be prescribed such powerful, mind-altering tranquilizers, yet over 2.5 million children are placed on these drugs today.
Northcountry News recently received documents obtained from the New Hampshire Office of Medicaid Business and Policy revealing that it spent a whopping $3,999,000 on atypical antipsychotics for children under the age of eighteen in 2007, as opposed to just $285,000 in 2000.
By Bryan Flagg
Last January, Northcountry News exposed that New Hampshire had led the nation in per capita methylphenidate (includes drugs like Ritalin and Concerta) purchases for eight straight years. While proponents of the drug try to convince you that this amphetamine-type drug is safe, only a little internet research will show you that it’s similar to, but more powerful than cocaine, can cause tourette’s syndrome, heart problems, suicide, hallucinations and much more. While few kids were on any type of psychiatric drug when I was young, about 4 million nationally are prescribed this and other amphetamines today.
Nobody would ever even try to claim that psychiatry’s most powerful drugs, antipsychotics, are mild and there’s very little FDA-approval of these drugs for children. In the past, it was almost unheard of for a child to be prescribed such powerful, mind-altering tranquilizers, yet over 2.5 million children are placed on these drugs today.
Northcountry News recently received documents obtained from the New Hampshire Office of Medicaid Business and Policy revealing that it spent a whopping $3,999,000 on atypical antipsychotics for children under the age of eighteen in 2007, as opposed to just $285,000 in 2000.
FY 2010 False Claims Act Settlements Total As of October 01, 2010
Total FY 2010 FCA from TAF - As of October 01, 2010
Taxpayers Against Fraud calculates the U.S. Department of Justice recovered over $3.1 billion of America's stolen money in Fiscal Year 2010 thanks to whistleblowers and the federal False Claims Act.
More than 80 percent of all successful False Claims Act recoveries are brought to the government by whistleblowers and their lawyers, making the law the most important tool the U.S. Government has in the war against fraud.
The False Claims Act provides for triple damages plus statutory fines of up to $11,000 per false claim.
Whistleblowers that bring evidence of fraud to the U.S. Government are eligible for awards of 15 to 30 percent of the total amount recovered under the Act.
80 percent health:
Approximately 80 percent of all fraud recoveries under the False Claims Act occur in health care, but significant amounts of fraud are also found in defense, education, transportation, and the oil and gas industries.
$15 back for ever $1 invested:
Taxpayers Against Fraud calculates that the False Claims Act is returning more than $15 back to the American people for every dollar invested in health care investigations and prosecutions.
28 State False Claims Acts:
In recent years, significant Medicaid recoveries have returned hundreds of millions of stolen dollars back to the states. In order to increase the amount of money coming back to them, and to initiate their own recoveries, 28 states and the District of Columbia have now passed their own versions of the federal False Claims Act.
Congress created IRS and SEC whistleblower offices:
Along with state False Claims Acts, the success of the federal False Claims Act has also spurred the creation of an IRS Whistleblower Office focused on large tax frauds (over $2 million per recovery) and an SEC Whistleblower Office designed to end market manipulations and massive stock swindles.
About the Top Ten Cases:
4 All of the top ten federal False Claims Act settlements in FY 2010 involved health care, with eight involving fraud committed by pharmaceutical companies.
4 Of 145 False Claims Act cases settled or resolved in FY 2010, the top 10 cases accounted for $2.7 billion of the more than $3.16 billion recovered.
To compare these results to last year's statistics >> click here
Major False Claims Act Cases
Resolved in Fiscal Year 2010
Company
Amount
Date
Nature of the fraud
Allergan Inc.[1]
$600,000,000.00
9/1/2010
Off-label marketing practices involving Botox
AstraZeneca LP and AstaZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP
$520,000,000.00
4/27/2010
Illegally marketed the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation[2]
$422,500,000.00
9/30/2010
Unapproved promotion of Trileptal
Forest Laboratories Inc. and Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.[3]
$313,000,000.00
9/15/2010
Marketed the thyroid drug Levothroid without FDA approval and unlawfully promoted the two antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro for pediatric use.
The Elan Corporation, PLC
$203,500,000.00
7/15/2010
Improperly sold and marketed the antiepileptic drug Zonegran
Teva Pharmaceuticals
$169,000,000.00
7/26/2010
Set and reported inflated prices for medications dispensed by pharmacies and other providers, who were then reimbursed by state Medicaid programs
WellCare Health Plans Inc. [4]
$137,500,000.00
8/9/2010
Defrauded Medicare and Medicaid programs in several states.
Mylan Pharmaceuticals, et al. [5]
$124,000,000.00
10/19/2009
The companies improperly classified certain drugs to evade rebate obligations.
Omnicare Inc. and IVAX Pharmaceuticals[6]
$112,000,000.00
11/3/2009
Omnicare engaged in kickback schemes with several parties, including IVAX.
The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati (and The Christ Hospital)
$108,000,000.00
5/21/2010
Violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by paying unlawful remuneration to doctors in exchange for referring cardiac patients to The Christ Hospital in a pay-to-play scheme
EMC Corporation
$87,500,000.00
5/25/2010
Violated the False Claims Act and the federal Anti-kickback Act by misrepresenting its commercial pricing practices and by fraudulently inducing the General Services Administration (GSA) to enter into a higher contract
Ortho-McNeil -Janssen Pharmaceutical LLC
$81,000,000.00
4/29/2010
These two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries engaged in off-label promotion of the epilepsy drug Topamax.
Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Inc. and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
$72,500,000.00
5/2/2010
The company caused false claims to be submitted to federal health care programs for certain off-label uses of TOBI.
University of Phoenix[7]
$67,500,000.00
12/15/2009
The university unlawfully accepted federal funds while in violation of statutory and regulatory provisions prohibiting post-secondary schools from paying admissions counselors certain forms of incentive-based compensation tied to the number of students recruited.
Nelnet
$55,000,000.00
8/13/2010
Defrauded the government as part of a student loan subsidy program
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP)
$55,000,000.00
8/30/2010
Knowingly paid kickbacks to systems integrator companies Sun Microsystems and Accenture in exchange for recommendations that the agencies purchase HP products
Cisco Systems Inc. and Westcon Group
$48,000,000.00
9/7/2010
The companies knowingly provided incomplete information to GSA contracting officers during negotiations regarding Westcon's contract with the agency
Chevron Corporation
$45,569,584.74
12/23/2009
Knowingly underpaid royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases
Alpharma Inc.
$42,500,000.00
3/16/2010
The company paid kickbacks to health care providers to induce them to promote or prescribe Kadian and made misrepresentations about the safety and efficacy of the drug.
James Jones Company LLC; Mueller Co. Ltd.; Tyco International; and Watts Water Technologies
$39,000,000.00
11/24/2009
Provided substandard parts for water supply systems
Mobil Natural Gas Inc.
$32,200,000.00
4/5/2010
Knowingly underpaid royalties owed for pumping natural gas produced from federal and American Indian leases
McAllen Hospitals L.P. [8]
$27,500,000.00
10/30/2009
Violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute by paying kickbacks to doctors.
Ciena Capital LLC
(and subsidiary Business Loan Center (BLC))
$26,300,000.00
5/6/2010
Submitted false claims for payment on loans they originated, underwrote, and serviced.
FORBA Holdings LLC
$24,000,000.00
1/20/2010
Billed state Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary dental services performed on children insured by Medicaid
Nursing Personnel Home Care; Extended Home Car; Excellent Home Care
$23,963,100.00
12/17/2009
Three home health agencies submitted false claims to the New York Medicaid and Medicare programs regarding the training requirement of home health aides.
MPC Products Corporation
$22,500,000.00
+ 2,500,000.00 criminal fine
10/15/2009
The company overcharged the government in a series of military contracts.
Boston Scientific Corporation
$22,000,000.00
12/23/2009
Guidant, a subsidiary company, used post-market studies to pay kickbacks to physicians
Schwarz Pharma Inc.
$22,000,000.00
4/29/2010
Misrepresented the regulatory status of two unapproved, unqualified drugs— Deponit and Hyoscyamine Sulfate Extended Release
Schering-Plough Corporation
$21,300,000.00
12/17/2009
The company inflated the price of Albuterol and other drugs
Omnicare Inc.
$21,100,000.00
9/15/2010
Defrauded the Medicaid programs in Michigan and Massachusetts by knowingly charging the agencies as much as four times the amount charged private healthcare insurers for the same drugs
Eli Lilly and Co.
$20,000,000
4/7/2010
Promoted unapproved off-label uses of its anti-psychotic drug, Zyprexa
Sodexo Inc.
$20,000,000.00
7/21/2010
Overcharged 21 New York school districts and the SUNY system
Dr. Sushil Sheth
$20,000,000.00
9/29/2010
Sheth submitted false claims to seek payment from Medicare and Medicaid for services that were not performed.
Renal Care Group, Renal Care Group Supply Company, and Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc.
$19,366,705.00
3/23/2010
Billed Medicare for home dialysis supplies and equipment that did not qualify for the program
Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.
$16,570,018.00
5/26/2010
Overcharged the government on certain contracts
Trelleborg AB[9]
$15,000,000.00
2/26/2010
The company and four of its subsidiaries conspired to submit rigged bids, fix prices and allocate market shares on marine fenders and plastic pilings purchased by the U.S. Navy and other federal departments and agencies.
Mariner Health Care Inc. and SavaSeniorCare Administrative Services LLC
$14,000,000.00
2/26/2010
Solicited kickback payments from Omnicare
St. John Health System
$13,229,348.88
12/22/2009
Billed Medicare and Medicaid for referrals from doctors with whom the providers have a financial relationship
Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
$12,500,000.00
6/23/2010
Knowingly submitted false claims regarding electronic parts supplied for navigation systems for military aircraft, military submarines and for certain equipment used in space, to a number of government agencies
Dr. Todd J. Scarbrough and Melbourne Internal Medicine Associates P.A.
$12,000,000.00
3/23/2010
Defrauded Medicare and TRICARE by improperly inflating claims
Intercare Health Systems (and Robert Bourseau and Rudra Sabaratnam)
$10,000,000.00
5/27/2010
Billed Medicare and Medi-Cal for a variety of medical services not offered and for performing unnecessary medical services on homeless people
Tutor Perini Corporation
$9,750,000.00
11/5/2009
Fraudulently reported that certain minority and disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs) were performing subcontracted work on federally funded construction projects in the New York City area
Visiting Physicians Association
$9,500,000.00
12/23/2009
Submitted false claims to Medicare, TRICARE and the Michigan Medicaid program, for unnecessary services
Nine hospitals[10]
$9,400,000.00
5/17/2010
The health care facilities submitted false claims to Medicare involving kyphoplasty.
Our Lady of Lourdes Health Care Services, Inc.
$7,950,000.00
12/15/2009
Two New Jersey hospitals fraudulently inflated charges in order to obtain higher reimbursement from Medicare.
Wright Medical Technology Inc.
$7,900,000.00
9/29/2010
The company’s fraudulent marketing practices caused false claims to be submitted to Medicare
The University of Chicago Medical Center
$7,000,000.00
6/29/2010
Sought reimbursement from the Illinois Medicaid program for care provided to babies in its Wyler Children’s Hospital on days when the NICU exceeded Illinois state regulations on bed spacing and capacity
Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration & Production Inc. and Marathon Oil Company
$6,917,451.55
8/20/2010
The companies knowingly underpaid royalties owed on natural gas produced from Federal and American Indian lands
Itochu Corp.
$6,750,000.00
12/7/2009
Imported and marketed bullet-proof vests containing defective Zylon fiber
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
$6,350,000.00
3/19/2010
The hospital defrauded Medicare by inflating its charges to obtain supplemental outlier payments
Cardinal 110 and Bindley Western Industries, Inc.
$5,500,000.00
7/6/2010
The companies charged medical treatment facilities more than the Distribution and Pricing Agreement (DAPA) price negotiated by the Department of Defense and drug manufacturers.
Saint John's Health
$5,250,000.00
8/25/2010
The hospital submitted false, inflated claims to increase Medicare “outlier payments.”
Grand Canyon Education Inc. (formerly Significant Education, Inc.),
$5,200,000.00
8/18/2010
Repeatedly violated the incentive compensation ban placed
Spectranetics Corporation
$4,900,000.00
+ $100,000 forfeiture
12/29/2009
The company illegally imported unapproved medical devices and provided them to physicians for use in patients.
Learning Tree International Inc.
$4,500,000.00
4/7/2010
Improperly invoiced federal agencies and retained money paid for information technology training courses that were not provided
Lincoln Fabrics Ltd.
$4,000,000.00
2/12/2010
Manufactured and sold defective Zylon bullet-proof vests
St. Jude Medical Inc.;
Parma Community General Hospital; and Norton Healthcare[11]
$3,898,300.00
6/4/2010
St. Jude paid illegal kickbacks to two hospitals to secure heart-device business
Atricure Inc.
$3,760,000.00
2/2/2010
The company marketed its surgical ablation devices for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Kaiser Entities in Northern and Southern California (4)
$3,752,000.00
12/3/2009
Falsely reported that services had been provided by teaching physicians when the services had been provided by resident physicians without the supervision of teaching physicians.
Actavis Elizabeth LLC
$3,600,000.00
3/9/2010
Reported false and inflated prices to drug industry price reporting services, which caused the Massachusetts Medicaid Program to pay inflated amounts for ingredient costs on prescriptions for Medicaid recipients
National Cardio Labs LLC
$3,600,000.00
7/8/2010
Knowingly submitted false health care claims to defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE
Eon Labs Inc.
$3,500,000.00
2/22/2010
Submitted false claims to Medicaid regarding the regulatory status of Nitroglycerin Sustained Release (SR) capsules
Christiana Care Health System
$3,300,000.00
3/2/2010
CCHS submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid
Trinitas Regional Medical Center
$3,020,000.00
11/18/2009
Hospital fraudulently inflated charges to Medicare patients to obtain higher reimbursements from Medicare
Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic
$3,000,000.00
12/1/2009
Received illegal kickbacks from HealthSouth Corporation
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc.
$2,988,819.00
6/10/2010
Improperly billed NASA following a company merger
Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Center
$2,920,000.00
2/25/2010
The hospital fraudulently inflated its charges to Medicare patients to obtain enhanced reimbursement from the federal health care program.
Metropolitan Ambulance & First Aid Corp. et al.[12]
$2,850,000.00
6/4/2010
Billed Medicare for medically unnecessary ambulance trips
Mercy Hospital Inc.
$2,799,462.00
2/19/2010
The hospital failed to provide, or failed to document that it provided, the minimum number of hours of rehabilitation therapy required under Medicare guidelines
Lawrence D. Jaeger, D.O.
$2,750,000.00
6/10/2010
Made false representations to Medicare, Medicaid and the New York Medicaid program and fraudulently obtained a certification from the New York State Department of Health that allowed him to receive more than five times his usual Medicaid reimbursement.
Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati et al.
$2,600,000.00
6/15/2010
Violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by engaging in a kickback-for-referral scheme
Sierra Military Health Services LLC
$2,200,000.00
1/25/2010
Over-billed the federal government and filed false claims in a double-payment profit scheme
El Centro Regional Medical Center
$2,200,000.00
8/25/2010
Fraudulently inflated its charges to Medicare patients to obtain larger reimbursements
Omni Home Care
$1,970,000.00
10/20/2009
Failed to obtain certain required physician approvals before submitting bills for home health services to Medicare.
Kaiser Foundation Hospitals
$1,830,322.41
11/12/2009
Billed Medicare for hospice services that had been provided without obtaining written certifications of terminal illness required under the federal health care program
Benchmark Rehabilitation Partners, LLC
$1,800,000.00
6/30/2010
Improperly billed the Medicare and TennCare/Medicaid programs for physical therapy services
Circle C Construction LLC
$1,661,423.00
3/15/2010
The company failed to take steps to ensure that accurate employee information was submitted by its electrical subcontractor.
Rush University Medical Center
$1,547,200.00
3/9/2010
Violated the False Claims Act and the Stark Act by entering into certain leasing arrangements for office space
Madison Memorial Hospital
$1,500,000.00
3/12/10
False billing for speech therapy
AT&T Missouri
$1,400,000.00
10/13/2009
The company provided false information to the E-Rate program and otherwise violated the program’s requirements by engaging in non-competitive bidding practices for E-Rate contracts.
Harborside Healthcare
$1,375,000.00
10/8/2009
The company received kickbacks through a durable medical equipment scam.
Stryker Biotech LLC
$1,350,000.00
8/26/2010
Marketed certain orthopedic products for uses that had not been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Ceradyne, Inc.
$1,200,000.00
5/26/2010
Failure to ballistically test armor plated inserts for Black Hawk helicopters
Center for Diagnostic Imaging
$1,200,000.00
9/30/2010
Medicaid billing fraud
RG Pharmacy, Inc. (and Roy D. Katz)
$1,115,000.00
3/30/2010
Made excessive, illegal charges for prescription drugs under the Connecticut Medicaid Program; submit claims for fraudulent dispensing fees
Ambulance Services, Inc.
$1,032,000.00
1/8/2010
Made misrepresentations to Medicare and Medicaid
Stephen E. Ginsberg
$1,014,953.78
1/21/2010
Submitted false claims to Medicare for reimbursement in connection with podiatric services
Educational Broadcasting Corporation
$950,000.00
6/15/2010
Engaged in improper accounting practices when it failed adequately to segregate federal award money from other funds, and improperly used federal award money to cover unallowable and unsupported costs
Advanced BioNutrition Corp.
$934,000.00
7/1/2010
Submitted false grant progress reports to the National Science Foundation
Glendale Memorial Hospital, Catholic Healthcare West
$900,000.00
8/18/10
Violated the Violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks for referrals
Cochlear Americas
$880,000.00
6/9/2010
Violated the Anti-Kickback Act and the False Claims Act by illegally paying physicians to prescribe devices manufactured by Cochlear Americas to Medicare and Medicaid patients
Diebold Information and Security Systems LLC
$850,000.00
11/3/2009
Failed to submit required suitability documentation to the Social Security Administration (SSA) for a number of subcontractor personnel
Houston Independent School District
$850,000.00
3/8/2010
Provided false information to the FCC’s E-Rate program
Wheaton Community Hospital
$846,461.00
1/4/2010
Knowingly made false claims to Medicare for unreasonable and unnecessary hospital admissions
SCCI Hospitals of America
$830,166.00
12/2/2009
Billed Medicare for services that were unnecessary
Chugach Management Services, Inc.
$822,000.00
5/10/2010
Overbilled on four fencing projects at Joint Base Lewis-McChord
The Morganti Group, Inc.
$800,000.00
7/27/2010
Submitted false pre-qualification documents when bidding on construction projects in Jordan
Quantum Dynamics Inc.
$750,000.00
7/29/2010
Obtained contracts from the U.S. Army after fraudulently qualifying for the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program
Capital Health System, Inc.
$750,000.00
11/10/09
The hospital defrauded Medicare by inflating its Medicare reimbursement claims to obtain supplemental outlier payments
Memorial Hospital
$747,199.00
6/24/2010
Improperly billed Medicare and TRICARE for speech therapy sessions
Northrop Grumman Corporation
$700,000.00
6/3/2010
Northrop submitted false claims to the government and improperly charged for lodging expenses for employees
Khosrow Moghaddam (and Sasha Pharmacy and K&S Pharmacy Inc.)
$700,000.00
9/14/2010
Sought inflated reimbursement from Medicare for medical equipment that was not medically necessary
County of Siskiyou
$695,080.00
11/10/2009
Ineligible to receive grant funds through the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative
Robert Corp.
$679,000.00
12/8/2009
Made false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on an application for government insurance of a mortgage loan.
Genesys Health System
$669,413.00
12/28/2009
Billed Medicare for higher levels of service than were actually rendered to patients
Physicians Clinic of Spokane
$656,000.00
6/8/2010
Billed medically unnecessary tests to Medicare
Wackenhut Services, Inc.
$650,000.00
6/16/2010
Submitted unallowable cost proposals to the government
The Oaks Diagnostics, Inc. (dba Advanced Radiology)
$647,000.00
7/2/2010
The company filed false claims with Medicare for unnecessary radiological tests.
Cathedral Rock
$628,000.00
+ $1,000,000 in criminal fines and penalties
1/7/2010
The company submitted false claims to Medicare and Missouri Medicaid; failed to provide adequate care.
Minnesota Autism Center
$600,000.00
5/27/2010
Improperly billed the federal Medicaid program for autism therapy services
Anil Kumar, M.D.
$586,761.00
6/21/2010
Submitted false (upcoded) claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs
Army Fleet Support, Inc.
$514,797.00
3/21/2010
Made false certifications when it provided certain helicopters to the U.S. Army that did not have bolts that were “Type Certified”
University System of Georgia
(Fort Valley State University)
$500,000.00
1/10/2010
Made false claims and falsely certified compliance with requirements of an agreement with NSF
Dr. Kevin S. Klopfenstein
$430,000.00
3/5/2010
Falsely billed Medicare for Thoracic Electrical Bioimpedance (TEB) tests, claiming that the patients who received the tests met applicable Medicare coverage requirements when, in fact, the patients did not.
Lexington Foot and Ankle, P.S.C.
$419,331.00
2/12/2010
Submitted false claims to Medicaid, Medicare and the Office of Personnel Management
Jaya H. Maddur, M.D.
$400,000.00
11/19/2009
Misrepresented services rendered; submitted claims for payment to TRICARE
Mercy Medical Center
$400,000.00
12/2/2009
The Medical Center inflated its charges for certain inpatient heart procedures to obtain additional reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, and Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
The Floating Hospital
$400,000.00
6/2/2010
Submitted false claims to Medicaid for reimbursement in connection with physical, occupational, and speech therapy services
Panalpina Inc.
$375,000.00
7/30/2010
The company paid kickbacks to Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) employees in exchange for favorable treatment on subcontracts provided for US military operations.
Idaho Falls Recover Center
$375,000.00
10/28/09
False billing for speech therapy
Franklin Rural Health Care Clinic
$360,357.22
2/19/2010
Fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid for non-covered medical services
Dr. Patrick Grisafi
$310,272.00
11/17/2009
Submitted upcoded and inflated claims for podiatric services to Medicare
Novation, LLC (and Becton Dickinson and Company and VHA Inc.)
$300,050,00.00
5/1/10
Kickbacks solicited from a hospital group purchasing organization and paid by a medical device supplier
Hines Dermatology Associates, Inc.
$275,000.00
7/7/2010
Billed Medicare for unnecessary pathology services
Harbor Senior Concepts, LLC
$258,000.00
4/20/2010
Provided substandard or worthless services to people covered by the Medicare and Medicaid programs
Arthritis and Allergy Associates
$247,036.72.00
9/21/2010
Improperly billed Medicare for facet joint blocks/injections and allowed inappropriate staff members to prepare and administer antigens.
Medsource Inc.
$227,895.25
3/29/2010
Falsely billed Medicare and Medicaid diabetic supplies that were never delivered
William Crittenden, M.D
$225,000.00
7/15/2010
Upcoded billing data for visits made to nursing homes and other assisted living facilities
Dr. Barbara Kage and
Rheumatology & Allergy Institute Of Connecticut, LLC (RAI)
$222,855.00
12/22/2009
Improperly billed Medicare.
Trinity Health-Michigan (St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital)
$205,000.00
12/21/2009
Improperly billed Medicare for medical services performed by nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and physician assistants.
Convenient Care Clinic, LLC
[13]
$193,510.00
12/11/2009
The company made false statements to a federal healthcare program; committed health care fraud; and embezzled from an employee benefit plan.
Hirley M. Estrada and Marcus R. Estrada
$191,606.00
10/20/2009
The Estradas fraudulently charged Medi-Cal for supplies, forged physician signatures, and fraudulently used physician provider numbers in order to receive reimbursement under the Medi-Cal program.
Johnson Memorial Hospital
$191,193.00
2/22/2010
Overbilled Medicare infusion therapy, chemotherapy administration, and blood transfusion services
Dr. David Quang Pham, DPM
$180,000.00
+ $70,000.00 restitution
4/9/2010
Submitted falsified treatment notes for services that he had not provided
Tucson Orthopedic Institute
$158,620.00
9/30/10
False billing for DME
Somerset Industries, Inc.
$150,000.00
4/2/2010
Somerset concealed, mislabeled, and/or
altered packaging of some food products sold to the Bureau of Prison
Michelle Dahlberg, Speech and Language Clinic
$125,000.00
7/9/10
False billing for speech therapy
Premier Medical Staffing, Inc. and Southern New Hampshire Medical Center
$123,400.00
2/5/2010
SNHMC agreed to pay the federal government $33,400 to resolve allegations it submitted claims to federal healthcare programs for services rendered by a nursing assistant who was excluded from participating in the programs. Premier Medical Staffing agreed to pay $90,000 to resolve similar allegations.
Thomas Greco, M.D., P.C.,
$99,886.86
11/24/2009
Submitted false claims to Medicare for infusion therapy services that were not rendered
Happy Teeth, LLC
$82,256.00
11/6/2009
Knowingly submitted Medicaid claims for services performed by a dentist barred as a Medicaid-authorized provider
Fairfield County Healthcare Associates, P.C.
(Pediatric Healthcare Associates)
$74,644.00
4/6/2010
Improperly billed Medicaid using a “special services” code
Milford Pediatric Group, P.C.
$65,378.00
5/27/2010
Improperly billed Medicaid using a “special services” code
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
$38,000.00
+ $1,200.00 restitution
5/3/2010
Bloomsburg’s administration knowingly allowed a student named Walter Watkins to engage in the fraudulent acquisition of Federal Student Aid through the Federal Work Study program.
Plastilam, Inc
$25,000.00
6/7/2010
Failed to take sufficient steps to safeguard confidential data while working on a GPO contract to produce plastic Medicare beneficiary cards
Total
$3,162,038,406.00
_______________________
Table Footnotes
_______________________
[1] The company will pay $225 million to resolve civil allegations and a $375 million criminal fine.
[2] Under the settlement agreement, the company agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count and pay a $185 million fine. The company also agreed to pay $237.5 million to resolve civil allegations over the promotion of Trileptal for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and for paying kickbacks to doctors to prescribe that drug and five others: Diovan, Exforge, Sandostatin, Tekturna and Zelnorm
[3] As part of the civil settlement, $149 million will be put toward federal and state civil claims while the rest will be put toward a criminal penalty ($150 million) and forfeit of assets ($14 million). Over $88 million will be distributed to the federal government and more than $60 million will be distributed among the states involved.
[4] WellCare Health Plans Inc. agreed to pay $137.5 million to settle fraud allegations with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the state of Connecticut. The company also agreed to pay $200 million to settle a class-action securities lawsuit.
[5] Mylan paid $60.9 million to the federal government, $49.8 million to state governments and $7.3 million to entities that participated in the Public Health Service's Drug Pricing Program, to resolve claims regarding several drugs, including ibuprofen tablets, Cephalexin and Cefactor.
AstraZeneca paid $1.43 million to the federal government and $1.17 million to state governments to resolve claims involving the bronchial medication Albuterol.
Ortho-McNeil paid a total of $3.4 million, including $1.87 to the federal government, to resolve claims involving the topical corticosteroid Dermatop.
[6] Omnicare Inc. agreed to pay $98 million IVAX Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay $14 million. Approximately $68.5 million of the settlement proceeds went to the United States, while $43.5 was put toward Medicaid program claims by participating states.
[7] The University of Phoenix agreed to pay the US $67.5 million, plus $11 million in private attorney fees
[8] The federal government will receive $25,208,333 and the state of Texas will receive $2,291,667
[9] “The lawsuit also alleged that Frank March, of Sevierville, Tennessee, and two Virginia corporations he formerly held a controlling interest in -- SHI, Inc. and SII, Inc. -- .. participated in the conspiracy with Trelleborg Inc. March has paid $1 million to resolve the allegations.” (DOJ)
[10] Nine Hospitals—Ball Memorial Hospital, Muncie, Ind.; Bethesda Memorial Hospital, Boynton Beach, Fla.; Bloomington Hospital, Bloomington, Ind.; Genesys Regional Medical Center, Grand Blanc, Mich.; Huntsville Hospital, dba The Health Care Authority of the City of Huntsville, Huntsville, Ala.; Palmetto Health dba Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital, Columbia, S.C.; St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Utica, N.Y.; St. Mary’s of Michigan Hospital, Saginaw, Mich.; and United Hospital, St. Paul, Minn.
[11] St. Jude agreed to pay $3,725,000. Parma Community General Hospital agreed to pay $40,000. Norton Healthcare agreed to pay $133,300.
[12] Metropolitan Ambulance & First Aid Corp. (now known as SEZ Metro Corp.), Metro North Ambulance Corp. (now known as SEZ North Corp.) and Big Apple Ambulance Service Inc. (formerly known as United Ambulance)
[13] The United States District Court in St. Louis, Missouri also sentenced CHC to five years probation and ordered it to pay restitution in the amount of $17,678.13.
Taxpayers Against Fraud calculates the U.S. Department of Justice recovered over $3.1 billion of America's stolen money in Fiscal Year 2010 thanks to whistleblowers and the federal False Claims Act.
More than 80 percent of all successful False Claims Act recoveries are brought to the government by whistleblowers and their lawyers, making the law the most important tool the U.S. Government has in the war against fraud.
The False Claims Act provides for triple damages plus statutory fines of up to $11,000 per false claim.
Whistleblowers that bring evidence of fraud to the U.S. Government are eligible for awards of 15 to 30 percent of the total amount recovered under the Act.
80 percent health:
Approximately 80 percent of all fraud recoveries under the False Claims Act occur in health care, but significant amounts of fraud are also found in defense, education, transportation, and the oil and gas industries.
$15 back for ever $1 invested:
Taxpayers Against Fraud calculates that the False Claims Act is returning more than $15 back to the American people for every dollar invested in health care investigations and prosecutions.
28 State False Claims Acts:
In recent years, significant Medicaid recoveries have returned hundreds of millions of stolen dollars back to the states. In order to increase the amount of money coming back to them, and to initiate their own recoveries, 28 states and the District of Columbia have now passed their own versions of the federal False Claims Act.
Congress created IRS and SEC whistleblower offices:
Along with state False Claims Acts, the success of the federal False Claims Act has also spurred the creation of an IRS Whistleblower Office focused on large tax frauds (over $2 million per recovery) and an SEC Whistleblower Office designed to end market manipulations and massive stock swindles.
About the Top Ten Cases:
4 All of the top ten federal False Claims Act settlements in FY 2010 involved health care, with eight involving fraud committed by pharmaceutical companies.
4 Of 145 False Claims Act cases settled or resolved in FY 2010, the top 10 cases accounted for $2.7 billion of the more than $3.16 billion recovered.
To compare these results to last year's statistics >> click here
Major False Claims Act Cases
Resolved in Fiscal Year 2010
Company
Amount
Date
Nature of the fraud
Allergan Inc.[1]
$600,000,000.00
9/1/2010
Off-label marketing practices involving Botox
AstraZeneca LP and AstaZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP
$520,000,000.00
4/27/2010
Illegally marketed the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation[2]
$422,500,000.00
9/30/2010
Unapproved promotion of Trileptal
Forest Laboratories Inc. and Forest Pharmaceuticals, Inc.[3]
$313,000,000.00
9/15/2010
Marketed the thyroid drug Levothroid without FDA approval and unlawfully promoted the two antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro for pediatric use.
The Elan Corporation, PLC
$203,500,000.00
7/15/2010
Improperly sold and marketed the antiepileptic drug Zonegran
Teva Pharmaceuticals
$169,000,000.00
7/26/2010
Set and reported inflated prices for medications dispensed by pharmacies and other providers, who were then reimbursed by state Medicaid programs
WellCare Health Plans Inc. [4]
$137,500,000.00
8/9/2010
Defrauded Medicare and Medicaid programs in several states.
Mylan Pharmaceuticals, et al. [5]
$124,000,000.00
10/19/2009
The companies improperly classified certain drugs to evade rebate obligations.
Omnicare Inc. and IVAX Pharmaceuticals[6]
$112,000,000.00
11/3/2009
Omnicare engaged in kickback schemes with several parties, including IVAX.
The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati (and The Christ Hospital)
$108,000,000.00
5/21/2010
Violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by paying unlawful remuneration to doctors in exchange for referring cardiac patients to The Christ Hospital in a pay-to-play scheme
EMC Corporation
$87,500,000.00
5/25/2010
Violated the False Claims Act and the federal Anti-kickback Act by misrepresenting its commercial pricing practices and by fraudulently inducing the General Services Administration (GSA) to enter into a higher contract
Ortho-McNeil -Janssen Pharmaceutical LLC
$81,000,000.00
4/29/2010
These two Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries engaged in off-label promotion of the epilepsy drug Topamax.
Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Inc. and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
$72,500,000.00
5/2/2010
The company caused false claims to be submitted to federal health care programs for certain off-label uses of TOBI.
University of Phoenix[7]
$67,500,000.00
12/15/2009
The university unlawfully accepted federal funds while in violation of statutory and regulatory provisions prohibiting post-secondary schools from paying admissions counselors certain forms of incentive-based compensation tied to the number of students recruited.
Nelnet
$55,000,000.00
8/13/2010
Defrauded the government as part of a student loan subsidy program
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP)
$55,000,000.00
8/30/2010
Knowingly paid kickbacks to systems integrator companies Sun Microsystems and Accenture in exchange for recommendations that the agencies purchase HP products
Cisco Systems Inc. and Westcon Group
$48,000,000.00
9/7/2010
The companies knowingly provided incomplete information to GSA contracting officers during negotiations regarding Westcon's contract with the agency
Chevron Corporation
$45,569,584.74
12/23/2009
Knowingly underpaid royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases
Alpharma Inc.
$42,500,000.00
3/16/2010
The company paid kickbacks to health care providers to induce them to promote or prescribe Kadian and made misrepresentations about the safety and efficacy of the drug.
James Jones Company LLC; Mueller Co. Ltd.; Tyco International; and Watts Water Technologies
$39,000,000.00
11/24/2009
Provided substandard parts for water supply systems
Mobil Natural Gas Inc.
$32,200,000.00
4/5/2010
Knowingly underpaid royalties owed for pumping natural gas produced from federal and American Indian leases
McAllen Hospitals L.P. [8]
$27,500,000.00
10/30/2009
Violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute by paying kickbacks to doctors.
Ciena Capital LLC
(and subsidiary Business Loan Center (BLC))
$26,300,000.00
5/6/2010
Submitted false claims for payment on loans they originated, underwrote, and serviced.
FORBA Holdings LLC
$24,000,000.00
1/20/2010
Billed state Medicaid programs for medically unnecessary dental services performed on children insured by Medicaid
Nursing Personnel Home Care; Extended Home Car; Excellent Home Care
$23,963,100.00
12/17/2009
Three home health agencies submitted false claims to the New York Medicaid and Medicare programs regarding the training requirement of home health aides.
MPC Products Corporation
$22,500,000.00
+ 2,500,000.00 criminal fine
10/15/2009
The company overcharged the government in a series of military contracts.
Boston Scientific Corporation
$22,000,000.00
12/23/2009
Guidant, a subsidiary company, used post-market studies to pay kickbacks to physicians
Schwarz Pharma Inc.
$22,000,000.00
4/29/2010
Misrepresented the regulatory status of two unapproved, unqualified drugs— Deponit and Hyoscyamine Sulfate Extended Release
Schering-Plough Corporation
$21,300,000.00
12/17/2009
The company inflated the price of Albuterol and other drugs
Omnicare Inc.
$21,100,000.00
9/15/2010
Defrauded the Medicaid programs in Michigan and Massachusetts by knowingly charging the agencies as much as four times the amount charged private healthcare insurers for the same drugs
Eli Lilly and Co.
$20,000,000
4/7/2010
Promoted unapproved off-label uses of its anti-psychotic drug, Zyprexa
Sodexo Inc.
$20,000,000.00
7/21/2010
Overcharged 21 New York school districts and the SUNY system
Dr. Sushil Sheth
$20,000,000.00
9/29/2010
Sheth submitted false claims to seek payment from Medicare and Medicaid for services that were not performed.
Renal Care Group, Renal Care Group Supply Company, and Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc.
$19,366,705.00
3/23/2010
Billed Medicare for home dialysis supplies and equipment that did not qualify for the program
Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.
$16,570,018.00
5/26/2010
Overcharged the government on certain contracts
Trelleborg AB[9]
$15,000,000.00
2/26/2010
The company and four of its subsidiaries conspired to submit rigged bids, fix prices and allocate market shares on marine fenders and plastic pilings purchased by the U.S. Navy and other federal departments and agencies.
Mariner Health Care Inc. and SavaSeniorCare Administrative Services LLC
$14,000,000.00
2/26/2010
Solicited kickback payments from Omnicare
St. John Health System
$13,229,348.88
12/22/2009
Billed Medicare and Medicaid for referrals from doctors with whom the providers have a financial relationship
Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
$12,500,000.00
6/23/2010
Knowingly submitted false claims regarding electronic parts supplied for navigation systems for military aircraft, military submarines and for certain equipment used in space, to a number of government agencies
Dr. Todd J. Scarbrough and Melbourne Internal Medicine Associates P.A.
$12,000,000.00
3/23/2010
Defrauded Medicare and TRICARE by improperly inflating claims
Intercare Health Systems (and Robert Bourseau and Rudra Sabaratnam)
$10,000,000.00
5/27/2010
Billed Medicare and Medi-Cal for a variety of medical services not offered and for performing unnecessary medical services on homeless people
Tutor Perini Corporation
$9,750,000.00
11/5/2009
Fraudulently reported that certain minority and disadvantaged business enterprises (DBEs) were performing subcontracted work on federally funded construction projects in the New York City area
Visiting Physicians Association
$9,500,000.00
12/23/2009
Submitted false claims to Medicare, TRICARE and the Michigan Medicaid program, for unnecessary services
Nine hospitals[10]
$9,400,000.00
5/17/2010
The health care facilities submitted false claims to Medicare involving kyphoplasty.
Our Lady of Lourdes Health Care Services, Inc.
$7,950,000.00
12/15/2009
Two New Jersey hospitals fraudulently inflated charges in order to obtain higher reimbursement from Medicare.
Wright Medical Technology Inc.
$7,900,000.00
9/29/2010
The company’s fraudulent marketing practices caused false claims to be submitted to Medicare
The University of Chicago Medical Center
$7,000,000.00
6/29/2010
Sought reimbursement from the Illinois Medicaid program for care provided to babies in its Wyler Children’s Hospital on days when the NICU exceeded Illinois state regulations on bed spacing and capacity
Dominion Oklahoma Texas Exploration & Production Inc. and Marathon Oil Company
$6,917,451.55
8/20/2010
The companies knowingly underpaid royalties owed on natural gas produced from Federal and American Indian lands
Itochu Corp.
$6,750,000.00
12/7/2009
Imported and marketed bullet-proof vests containing defective Zylon fiber
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
$6,350,000.00
3/19/2010
The hospital defrauded Medicare by inflating its charges to obtain supplemental outlier payments
Cardinal 110 and Bindley Western Industries, Inc.
$5,500,000.00
7/6/2010
The companies charged medical treatment facilities more than the Distribution and Pricing Agreement (DAPA) price negotiated by the Department of Defense and drug manufacturers.
Saint John's Health
$5,250,000.00
8/25/2010
The hospital submitted false, inflated claims to increase Medicare “outlier payments.”
Grand Canyon Education Inc. (formerly Significant Education, Inc.),
$5,200,000.00
8/18/2010
Repeatedly violated the incentive compensation ban placed
Spectranetics Corporation
$4,900,000.00
+ $100,000 forfeiture
12/29/2009
The company illegally imported unapproved medical devices and provided them to physicians for use in patients.
Learning Tree International Inc.
$4,500,000.00
4/7/2010
Improperly invoiced federal agencies and retained money paid for information technology training courses that were not provided
Lincoln Fabrics Ltd.
$4,000,000.00
2/12/2010
Manufactured and sold defective Zylon bullet-proof vests
St. Jude Medical Inc.;
Parma Community General Hospital; and Norton Healthcare[11]
$3,898,300.00
6/4/2010
St. Jude paid illegal kickbacks to two hospitals to secure heart-device business
Atricure Inc.
$3,760,000.00
2/2/2010
The company marketed its surgical ablation devices for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Kaiser Entities in Northern and Southern California (4)
$3,752,000.00
12/3/2009
Falsely reported that services had been provided by teaching physicians when the services had been provided by resident physicians without the supervision of teaching physicians.
Actavis Elizabeth LLC
$3,600,000.00
3/9/2010
Reported false and inflated prices to drug industry price reporting services, which caused the Massachusetts Medicaid Program to pay inflated amounts for ingredient costs on prescriptions for Medicaid recipients
National Cardio Labs LLC
$3,600,000.00
7/8/2010
Knowingly submitted false health care claims to defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE
Eon Labs Inc.
$3,500,000.00
2/22/2010
Submitted false claims to Medicaid regarding the regulatory status of Nitroglycerin Sustained Release (SR) capsules
Christiana Care Health System
$3,300,000.00
3/2/2010
CCHS submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid
Trinitas Regional Medical Center
$3,020,000.00
11/18/2009
Hospital fraudulently inflated charges to Medicare patients to obtain higher reimbursements from Medicare
Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic
$3,000,000.00
12/1/2009
Received illegal kickbacks from HealthSouth Corporation
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc.
$2,988,819.00
6/10/2010
Improperly billed NASA following a company merger
Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Center
$2,920,000.00
2/25/2010
The hospital fraudulently inflated its charges to Medicare patients to obtain enhanced reimbursement from the federal health care program.
Metropolitan Ambulance & First Aid Corp. et al.[12]
$2,850,000.00
6/4/2010
Billed Medicare for medically unnecessary ambulance trips
Mercy Hospital Inc.
$2,799,462.00
2/19/2010
The hospital failed to provide, or failed to document that it provided, the minimum number of hours of rehabilitation therapy required under Medicare guidelines
Lawrence D. Jaeger, D.O.
$2,750,000.00
6/10/2010
Made false representations to Medicare, Medicaid and the New York Medicaid program and fraudulently obtained a certification from the New York State Department of Health that allowed him to receive more than five times his usual Medicaid reimbursement.
Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati et al.
$2,600,000.00
6/15/2010
Violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by engaging in a kickback-for-referral scheme
Sierra Military Health Services LLC
$2,200,000.00
1/25/2010
Over-billed the federal government and filed false claims in a double-payment profit scheme
El Centro Regional Medical Center
$2,200,000.00
8/25/2010
Fraudulently inflated its charges to Medicare patients to obtain larger reimbursements
Omni Home Care
$1,970,000.00
10/20/2009
Failed to obtain certain required physician approvals before submitting bills for home health services to Medicare.
Kaiser Foundation Hospitals
$1,830,322.41
11/12/2009
Billed Medicare for hospice services that had been provided without obtaining written certifications of terminal illness required under the federal health care program
Benchmark Rehabilitation Partners, LLC
$1,800,000.00
6/30/2010
Improperly billed the Medicare and TennCare/Medicaid programs for physical therapy services
Circle C Construction LLC
$1,661,423.00
3/15/2010
The company failed to take steps to ensure that accurate employee information was submitted by its electrical subcontractor.
Rush University Medical Center
$1,547,200.00
3/9/2010
Violated the False Claims Act and the Stark Act by entering into certain leasing arrangements for office space
Madison Memorial Hospital
$1,500,000.00
3/12/10
False billing for speech therapy
AT&T Missouri
$1,400,000.00
10/13/2009
The company provided false information to the E-Rate program and otherwise violated the program’s requirements by engaging in non-competitive bidding practices for E-Rate contracts.
Harborside Healthcare
$1,375,000.00
10/8/2009
The company received kickbacks through a durable medical equipment scam.
Stryker Biotech LLC
$1,350,000.00
8/26/2010
Marketed certain orthopedic products for uses that had not been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Ceradyne, Inc.
$1,200,000.00
5/26/2010
Failure to ballistically test armor plated inserts for Black Hawk helicopters
Center for Diagnostic Imaging
$1,200,000.00
9/30/2010
Medicaid billing fraud
RG Pharmacy, Inc. (and Roy D. Katz)
$1,115,000.00
3/30/2010
Made excessive, illegal charges for prescription drugs under the Connecticut Medicaid Program; submit claims for fraudulent dispensing fees
Ambulance Services, Inc.
$1,032,000.00
1/8/2010
Made misrepresentations to Medicare and Medicaid
Stephen E. Ginsberg
$1,014,953.78
1/21/2010
Submitted false claims to Medicare for reimbursement in connection with podiatric services
Educational Broadcasting Corporation
$950,000.00
6/15/2010
Engaged in improper accounting practices when it failed adequately to segregate federal award money from other funds, and improperly used federal award money to cover unallowable and unsupported costs
Advanced BioNutrition Corp.
$934,000.00
7/1/2010
Submitted false grant progress reports to the National Science Foundation
Glendale Memorial Hospital, Catholic Healthcare West
$900,000.00
8/18/10
Violated the Violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks for referrals
Cochlear Americas
$880,000.00
6/9/2010
Violated the Anti-Kickback Act and the False Claims Act by illegally paying physicians to prescribe devices manufactured by Cochlear Americas to Medicare and Medicaid patients
Diebold Information and Security Systems LLC
$850,000.00
11/3/2009
Failed to submit required suitability documentation to the Social Security Administration (SSA) for a number of subcontractor personnel
Houston Independent School District
$850,000.00
3/8/2010
Provided false information to the FCC’s E-Rate program
Wheaton Community Hospital
$846,461.00
1/4/2010
Knowingly made false claims to Medicare for unreasonable and unnecessary hospital admissions
SCCI Hospitals of America
$830,166.00
12/2/2009
Billed Medicare for services that were unnecessary
Chugach Management Services, Inc.
$822,000.00
5/10/2010
Overbilled on four fencing projects at Joint Base Lewis-McChord
The Morganti Group, Inc.
$800,000.00
7/27/2010
Submitted false pre-qualification documents when bidding on construction projects in Jordan
Quantum Dynamics Inc.
$750,000.00
7/29/2010
Obtained contracts from the U.S. Army after fraudulently qualifying for the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program
Capital Health System, Inc.
$750,000.00
11/10/09
The hospital defrauded Medicare by inflating its Medicare reimbursement claims to obtain supplemental outlier payments
Memorial Hospital
$747,199.00
6/24/2010
Improperly billed Medicare and TRICARE for speech therapy sessions
Northrop Grumman Corporation
$700,000.00
6/3/2010
Northrop submitted false claims to the government and improperly charged for lodging expenses for employees
Khosrow Moghaddam (and Sasha Pharmacy and K&S Pharmacy Inc.)
$700,000.00
9/14/2010
Sought inflated reimbursement from Medicare for medical equipment that was not medically necessary
County of Siskiyou
$695,080.00
11/10/2009
Ineligible to receive grant funds through the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative
Robert Corp.
$679,000.00
12/8/2009
Made false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on an application for government insurance of a mortgage loan.
Genesys Health System
$669,413.00
12/28/2009
Billed Medicare for higher levels of service than were actually rendered to patients
Physicians Clinic of Spokane
$656,000.00
6/8/2010
Billed medically unnecessary tests to Medicare
Wackenhut Services, Inc.
$650,000.00
6/16/2010
Submitted unallowable cost proposals to the government
The Oaks Diagnostics, Inc. (dba Advanced Radiology)
$647,000.00
7/2/2010
The company filed false claims with Medicare for unnecessary radiological tests.
Cathedral Rock
$628,000.00
+ $1,000,000 in criminal fines and penalties
1/7/2010
The company submitted false claims to Medicare and Missouri Medicaid; failed to provide adequate care.
Minnesota Autism Center
$600,000.00
5/27/2010
Improperly billed the federal Medicaid program for autism therapy services
Anil Kumar, M.D.
$586,761.00
6/21/2010
Submitted false (upcoded) claims for payment to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs
Army Fleet Support, Inc.
$514,797.00
3/21/2010
Made false certifications when it provided certain helicopters to the U.S. Army that did not have bolts that were “Type Certified”
University System of Georgia
(Fort Valley State University)
$500,000.00
1/10/2010
Made false claims and falsely certified compliance with requirements of an agreement with NSF
Dr. Kevin S. Klopfenstein
$430,000.00
3/5/2010
Falsely billed Medicare for Thoracic Electrical Bioimpedance (TEB) tests, claiming that the patients who received the tests met applicable Medicare coverage requirements when, in fact, the patients did not.
Lexington Foot and Ankle, P.S.C.
$419,331.00
2/12/2010
Submitted false claims to Medicaid, Medicare and the Office of Personnel Management
Jaya H. Maddur, M.D.
$400,000.00
11/19/2009
Misrepresented services rendered; submitted claims for payment to TRICARE
Mercy Medical Center
$400,000.00
12/2/2009
The Medical Center inflated its charges for certain inpatient heart procedures to obtain additional reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, and Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
The Floating Hospital
$400,000.00
6/2/2010
Submitted false claims to Medicaid for reimbursement in connection with physical, occupational, and speech therapy services
Panalpina Inc.
$375,000.00
7/30/2010
The company paid kickbacks to Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) employees in exchange for favorable treatment on subcontracts provided for US military operations.
Idaho Falls Recover Center
$375,000.00
10/28/09
False billing for speech therapy
Franklin Rural Health Care Clinic
$360,357.22
2/19/2010
Fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid for non-covered medical services
Dr. Patrick Grisafi
$310,272.00
11/17/2009
Submitted upcoded and inflated claims for podiatric services to Medicare
Novation, LLC (and Becton Dickinson and Company and VHA Inc.)
$300,050,00.00
5/1/10
Kickbacks solicited from a hospital group purchasing organization and paid by a medical device supplier
Hines Dermatology Associates, Inc.
$275,000.00
7/7/2010
Billed Medicare for unnecessary pathology services
Harbor Senior Concepts, LLC
$258,000.00
4/20/2010
Provided substandard or worthless services to people covered by the Medicare and Medicaid programs
Arthritis and Allergy Associates
$247,036.72.00
9/21/2010
Improperly billed Medicare for facet joint blocks/injections and allowed inappropriate staff members to prepare and administer antigens.
Medsource Inc.
$227,895.25
3/29/2010
Falsely billed Medicare and Medicaid diabetic supplies that were never delivered
William Crittenden, M.D
$225,000.00
7/15/2010
Upcoded billing data for visits made to nursing homes and other assisted living facilities
Dr. Barbara Kage and
Rheumatology & Allergy Institute Of Connecticut, LLC (RAI)
$222,855.00
12/22/2009
Improperly billed Medicare.
Trinity Health-Michigan (St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital)
$205,000.00
12/21/2009
Improperly billed Medicare for medical services performed by nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and physician assistants.
Convenient Care Clinic, LLC
[13]
$193,510.00
12/11/2009
The company made false statements to a federal healthcare program; committed health care fraud; and embezzled from an employee benefit plan.
Hirley M. Estrada and Marcus R. Estrada
$191,606.00
10/20/2009
The Estradas fraudulently charged Medi-Cal for supplies, forged physician signatures, and fraudulently used physician provider numbers in order to receive reimbursement under the Medi-Cal program.
Johnson Memorial Hospital
$191,193.00
2/22/2010
Overbilled Medicare infusion therapy, chemotherapy administration, and blood transfusion services
Dr. David Quang Pham, DPM
$180,000.00
+ $70,000.00 restitution
4/9/2010
Submitted falsified treatment notes for services that he had not provided
Tucson Orthopedic Institute
$158,620.00
9/30/10
False billing for DME
Somerset Industries, Inc.
$150,000.00
4/2/2010
Somerset concealed, mislabeled, and/or
altered packaging of some food products sold to the Bureau of Prison
Michelle Dahlberg, Speech and Language Clinic
$125,000.00
7/9/10
False billing for speech therapy
Premier Medical Staffing, Inc. and Southern New Hampshire Medical Center
$123,400.00
2/5/2010
SNHMC agreed to pay the federal government $33,400 to resolve allegations it submitted claims to federal healthcare programs for services rendered by a nursing assistant who was excluded from participating in the programs. Premier Medical Staffing agreed to pay $90,000 to resolve similar allegations.
Thomas Greco, M.D., P.C.,
$99,886.86
11/24/2009
Submitted false claims to Medicare for infusion therapy services that were not rendered
Happy Teeth, LLC
$82,256.00
11/6/2009
Knowingly submitted Medicaid claims for services performed by a dentist barred as a Medicaid-authorized provider
Fairfield County Healthcare Associates, P.C.
(Pediatric Healthcare Associates)
$74,644.00
4/6/2010
Improperly billed Medicaid using a “special services” code
Milford Pediatric Group, P.C.
$65,378.00
5/27/2010
Improperly billed Medicaid using a “special services” code
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
$38,000.00
+ $1,200.00 restitution
5/3/2010
Bloomsburg’s administration knowingly allowed a student named Walter Watkins to engage in the fraudulent acquisition of Federal Student Aid through the Federal Work Study program.
Plastilam, Inc
$25,000.00
6/7/2010
Failed to take sufficient steps to safeguard confidential data while working on a GPO contract to produce plastic Medicare beneficiary cards
Total
$3,162,038,406.00
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Table Footnotes
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[1] The company will pay $225 million to resolve civil allegations and a $375 million criminal fine.
[2] Under the settlement agreement, the company agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count and pay a $185 million fine. The company also agreed to pay $237.5 million to resolve civil allegations over the promotion of Trileptal for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and for paying kickbacks to doctors to prescribe that drug and five others: Diovan, Exforge, Sandostatin, Tekturna and Zelnorm
[3] As part of the civil settlement, $149 million will be put toward federal and state civil claims while the rest will be put toward a criminal penalty ($150 million) and forfeit of assets ($14 million). Over $88 million will be distributed to the federal government and more than $60 million will be distributed among the states involved.
[4] WellCare Health Plans Inc. agreed to pay $137.5 million to settle fraud allegations with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the state of Connecticut. The company also agreed to pay $200 million to settle a class-action securities lawsuit.
[5] Mylan paid $60.9 million to the federal government, $49.8 million to state governments and $7.3 million to entities that participated in the Public Health Service's Drug Pricing Program, to resolve claims regarding several drugs, including ibuprofen tablets, Cephalexin and Cefactor.
AstraZeneca paid $1.43 million to the federal government and $1.17 million to state governments to resolve claims involving the bronchial medication Albuterol.
Ortho-McNeil paid a total of $3.4 million, including $1.87 to the federal government, to resolve claims involving the topical corticosteroid Dermatop.
[6] Omnicare Inc. agreed to pay $98 million IVAX Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay $14 million. Approximately $68.5 million of the settlement proceeds went to the United States, while $43.5 was put toward Medicaid program claims by participating states.
[7] The University of Phoenix agreed to pay the US $67.5 million, plus $11 million in private attorney fees
[8] The federal government will receive $25,208,333 and the state of Texas will receive $2,291,667
[9] “The lawsuit also alleged that Frank March, of Sevierville, Tennessee, and two Virginia corporations he formerly held a controlling interest in -- SHI, Inc. and SII, Inc. -- .. participated in the conspiracy with Trelleborg Inc. March has paid $1 million to resolve the allegations.” (DOJ)
[10] Nine Hospitals—Ball Memorial Hospital, Muncie, Ind.; Bethesda Memorial Hospital, Boynton Beach, Fla.; Bloomington Hospital, Bloomington, Ind.; Genesys Regional Medical Center, Grand Blanc, Mich.; Huntsville Hospital, dba The Health Care Authority of the City of Huntsville, Huntsville, Ala.; Palmetto Health dba Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital, Columbia, S.C.; St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Utica, N.Y.; St. Mary’s of Michigan Hospital, Saginaw, Mich.; and United Hospital, St. Paul, Minn.
[11] St. Jude agreed to pay $3,725,000. Parma Community General Hospital agreed to pay $40,000. Norton Healthcare agreed to pay $133,300.
[12] Metropolitan Ambulance & First Aid Corp. (now known as SEZ Metro Corp.), Metro North Ambulance Corp. (now known as SEZ North Corp.) and Big Apple Ambulance Service Inc. (formerly known as United Ambulance)
[13] The United States District Court in St. Louis, Missouri also sentenced CHC to five years probation and ordered it to pay restitution in the amount of $17,678.13.
foodconsumer.org - Fluoride in your drinking water may be too high
foodconsumer.org - Fluoride in your drinking water may be too high
Dear readers,
FAN was all set to report on some of the exciting developments that have taken place in the first 7 days of this year, when this morning it got a lot more hectic with the announcement that the CDC is lowering its recommended "optimal" level for fluoride in water from a range of 0.7 to 1.2 ppm, down to single level: 0.7ppm. More about that decision below. First, the events we are tracking and with which we are trying to help with ONLINE messages.
Dear readers,
FAN was all set to report on some of the exciting developments that have taken place in the first 7 days of this year, when this morning it got a lot more hectic with the announcement that the CDC is lowering its recommended "optimal" level for fluoride in water from a range of 0.7 to 1.2 ppm, down to single level: 0.7ppm. More about that decision below. First, the events we are tracking and with which we are trying to help with ONLINE messages.
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