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  The Society for Consumer Advocates and Mavens

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FOR-PROFIT HOSPITALS AND DOUBLE BILLING

Good business these days may mean bad medicine for patients! So-called well respected physicians with large patient loads have been accused of becoming medical directors for hospitals just so they can accept monetary "kickbacks" from hospitals to deliver patients and help the hospitals fill beds! Remember, only doctors are legally allowed to admit a patient to a hospital.

Too many hospital employees, even management, would not recommend that their loved ones go to the hospital they work at for any type of life-threatening treatment, and in some cases, for any kind of treatment whatsoever because of hospital understaffing and potentially incompetent medical care.

Moreover, hospital neo-natal (newborn) baby wards may face some of the deepest budget cuts because essentially babies cannot complain about their medical care! Hospital budget cutting practices may also even lead to more hospital infections in patients.

Hospital doctors have been accused of accepting "production bonuses" which amount to fees for recommending more surgeries than may be necessary, as well as for possibly doing more costly medical procedures like heart surgeries or C-sections when delivering babies when a particular heart surgery or C-section may not always be necessary at all. How do you know if you are victimized by a hospital that may be putting profit ahead of your medical care?

When it comes to hospital billing procedurs many hospitals have been warned, even reprimanded, for years concerning double-billing the Medicare payment system. This includes fraudulently billing Medicare TWICE for one procedure performed on a patient. Hospitals have also been accused of fraudulently billing Medicare for procedures never performed, as well as overcharging Medicare for patient medical supplies, drugs and procedures.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCES: ABC-TV 20/20 9/26/07 and NBC-TV NEWS 7/15/97

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