Health Care Crimes
Seattle, Washington Health Care Fraud/Crimes Defense Attorney
Health care fraud is a broad term that encompasses many different types of activities by both providers and recipients of health care services and by manufacturers and suppliers of health care devices and drugs. These activities can include fraudulent billing by a provider; for example, charging for a more expensive service or procedure than the one actually provided, charging for a service that was not actually provided or a procedure that was not actually performed, submitting duplicate or multiple charges for a single service or procedure, or submitting fabricated or altered bills. They also can include providing or performing unnecessary and potentially harmful treatments and procedures and/or fraudulently and improperly performed laboratory tests, often in conjunction with a kickback scheme that involves the receipt of “bonuses” from a manufacturer or supplier.
Health care fraud may be committed by a recipient or patient who falsely claims or exaggerates an injury or a medical disability or who collects on different insurance policies for the same injury or illness.
Investigations and prosecutions for health care fraud occur at both the federal and state levels, and can be initiated by state Medicaid Fraud Control Units, the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Office of Inspector General of the Office of Personnel Management, the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Labor, the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, the Washington Department of Health, and other agencies.
Michael Iaria has experience in representing clients who face health care fraud investigations and prosecutions. For example, in one case he obtained a decision not to prosecute his client, a billing coordinator who was a target in a lengthy federal investigation into the allegedly fraudulent billing practices of a major local hospital and its associated physicians. In another case, he obtained a decision not to charge his client, a physician who was a target in a state investigation into allegedly fraudulent billing practices.