US court orders RP health firm to return $100.M swindled money!

[Zeus]

US court orders RP health firm to return $100-M swindled money


[SIZE=2]A United States judge ordered a Philippine health provider to return the $100 million it swindled from a US military health insurance program through fraudulent claims, an international wire agency reported. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]The Associated Press reported that US District Judge Barbara Crabb ordered Health Visions Corp., said to have filed the biggest inflated claims with TRICARE, to liquidate all its assets within months and give the proceeds to the US government. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]On top of the $99.9 million in restitution, Crabb directed the company to forfeit an additional $910,000 and pay a $500,000 fine, the report added. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Under Crabb’s decision, the report said the Health Visions will be required to sell off land, office buildings and hospitals in the Philippines and an airplane and houses in the US. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]TRICARE is the US Department of Defense’s worldwide health care program for active duty and retired uniformed services members and their families.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]"This is basically a death sentence for the company. It will no longer exist and that will protect the TRICARE program since it was the biggest violator," Assistant US Attorney Peter Jarosz was quoted as saying after the hearing. "We got what we needed out of this prosecution."[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]2,000-pct hike[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]In 2006, Health visions’ former administrator, American Thomas Arthur Lutz, pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal TRICARE program before the US District Court in Madison, Wisconsin.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Lutz was charged with participating in a conspiracy with Health Visions and a physician in the Philippines to double bill TRICARE and kickback the inflated payments to the health provider. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]The charges were brought in the Western District of Wisconsin because Wisconsin Physicians Service, the fiscal intermediary which processed and paid the inflated claims, is located in Madison. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]American veterans living in the Philippines have allegedly conspired with doctors, hospitals and clinics to defraud TRICARE through fraudulent claims. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]The scheme reportedly involved Philippine health providers, which would get kickbacks from false claims, inflated by as much as 2,000 percent, filed with TRICARE for medical services.[/SIZE]

Source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
Apr. 25, 2008

[Jun aka Pekto]

Ouch! I didn't even know TRICARE coverage existed in the Philippines. If it's true American veterans in the Philippines were part of those providing fraudulent claims, then they deserve to have their retirement checks stopped immediately.

Of all people, they should be setting the example. This is shameful news, indeed.

[v6dreamer]

Ouch! I didn't even know TRICARE coverage existed in the Philippines. If it's true American veterans in the Philippines were part of those providing fraudulent claims, then they deserve to have their retirement checks stopped immediately.

Of all people, they should be setting the example. This is shameful news, indeed.

Aherrmmmm! Basta wag lang nilang tanggalin yong akin. I earned that honestly and faithfully for 21 years. Pag nakataon gutom ang labas ko.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Aherrmmmm! Basta wag lang nilang tanggalin yong akin. I earned that honestly and faithfully for 21 years. Pag nakataon gutom ang labas ko.

You do realize we'll (along with other Fil-Am veterans) be carrying this burden for a very long time. We've been drilled ad naseum about Fraud, Waste, and Abuse as well as Ethics, Integrity/Accountability. These principles are supposed to guide us through life even after hanging up the uniform for the last time.

You know how it is. We never abandon a fellow veteran. They're Fil-Ams. We're Fil-Ams. If they screwed up, we'll be sharing their troubles one way or another.

If their image is tarnished, so is ours. What am I going to do, deny I'm a Fil-Am? Of course not. There's nothing left to do but say, "Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir" and take whatever's coming our way.

Oh well. It's just another in a list of burdens I carry with me. *SIGH*

[Memphis Raines]

Why is this in the Goon Squad section?

I think this should be transferred here: http://tsikot.yehey.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=100

[Zeus]

Mga ibang Clinic, Hospital at mga Doctor na mapatunayang nandaya ay kakasuhan at tatanggalin ng lisensya ayon sa justice department.