Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom
Health Freedom Minute January 2, 2013
War on Doctors - Imprisoned for Coding Error A skilled vascular surgeon is in jail. Medicare accused him of making false statements in two surgeries he performed ten years ago. He had submitted payment codes which the feds said were for more complex procedures in order to get paid more. Thereʼs just one problem. There are no exact codes for the innovative procedures the doctor used, so he picked the ones most similar. He even picked ones that paid less. The government found 2 errors in 2400 surgical reports. They sent him to prison for 10 months. The prosecutor is disturbed that the doctor doesnʼt think he did anything wrong. Tell me: will there be any doctors left when you need one? “Surgeon in Prison; Picked Wrong CPT Code,” APS News, December 2012.
Presented daily by Twila Brase, President, Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom. The Health Freedom Minute is now heard in 37 states: Mornings M-Th at AM1280 (The Patriot) in MN and 91.5 AM WHKC (FreedomFM) in OH, afternoons on American Family Radio, and daily on the Bott Radio Network.
CCHF ● 161 St. Anthony Ave. ● Suite 923 ● St. Paul, MN 55103 ● 651-646-8935 ● www.cchfreedom.org CCHF supports patient and doctor freedom, medical innovation, and the right of citizens to a confidential patient-doctor relationship.
