I took last night off and missed the info about Br
Post# of 36537
Everyone should understand there has been a bit of innapropriate kickbacks to individuals and providers who get paid to order braces, labs and pharmaceuticals etc. Sadly,most of the doctors are ordering the services already to help their patients, do not realize the government does not allow for certain types of compensation arrangements. Most of what has been inappropriate has not been through correctly set up MSO's. As an example urine toxicology testing used to reimburse $2000.00 per test. Some addiction treatment and/or pain doctors tested every visit, usually once per month, sometimes weekly for addiction treatment. I had a lab rep offer to split his $500 commission with me 50/50. He would have paid me in cash once a week. I did not do it. Can you imagine how tempting that would be? I an required to order the test based on state and federal guidelines for caring for patients. Why shouldn't I be able to make some money from it?
Similarly to the TV commercials you see about motorized scooters, back and knee braces. These are typically run by individuals taking advantage of the elderly who call and get devices "for free" and the company gets a doctor to sign off on the order, usually having never seen the patient. I get one or two of the prescriptions a month the DME company wants me to sign stating they are medically necessary. Sometimes I haven't seen the patient in months or longer. I had one patient get a back, two knee, wrist and a neck brace in one package after a five minute phone call. As far as Medicare is concerned they are instituting a competitive bid process in 2021 which will lower the profit for DME companies. A lot of the scammers will be gone. There will still be nice profit in DME. especially for a large company who has buying power and experienced management like Terry(and Joe).
I could go on and on. The good news is with Terry's experience and what Joe has stated here previously and made public, I expect those old issues have been resolved and new concerns will be corrected.