Feds Bust Medicare Fraudsters; Felonious Doctor Wants to Bill Government Again

In more news of the Obama Administration working hard to protect taxpayers, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has busted 301 individuals, including 61 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals, for defrauding Medicare and other federal health insurance programs.

Meanwhile, in local soap operas, a Sioux Falls doctor who in 2013 had to pay the State of South Dakota thousands of dollars to settle charges of defrauding Medicaid, is now complaining that an error by the state has denied her the ability to bill Medicaid and Medicare:

In February, [Annette] Bosworth discovered that the state of South Dakota had listed her license as revoked with the [National Practitioner Data Bank]; the result of her conviction last year on 12 felony counts of perjury relating to nominating petitions for her failed 2014 U-S Senate bid.

…While the state did revoke her license last September, a few days later a judge issued a stay on the order until the case could be heard by the South Dakota Supreme Court.

The NPDB handbook says if a license revocation has a legal stay, it should not be reported as revoked.

…Being listed as revoked in this federal database means Bosworth is not recognized as a legally practicing doctor by insurance companies and federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

In court filings, attorneys for the South Dakota Board of Medical Examiners say they followed proper procedures in their reporting. But from September of last year until February of this year, Bosworth’s data base status was ‘revoked’ before being updated with the stay information [link added; Brian Allen, “Bosworth Readies for New Court Fight,” KSFY-TV, 2016.06.23].

Funny: this doctor shut down her clinic last summer following her felony conviction, so it’s hard to say whose treatment she would be billing to Medicaid or Medicare. But since it’s been fixed, if the doctor does resume practice, it would appear there should be no problem… at least not until the court finally hears the appeal and rules that felony convictions, on top of past erratic behavior and concerns about her mental fitness brought before the South Dakota Board of Medical Examiners, justify the board’s revocation of her license.

Bonus Co-inky-dink: The lawyer representing the Board of Medical Examiners is Craig Kennedy of Yankton. Kennedy happens to be running for District 18 Senate as a Democrat. Expect the doctor to claim that Republicans and Democrats are conspiring to punish her for her political activities in 2014.