Alabama loses $1.1 billion a year to health-care fraud, and the nation loses $75 billion annually, according to a recent report in The Birmingham News. That article is dripping in irony. First, the figures come from a professor at UAB, and as we have reported here, UAB almost certainly is our state's No. 1 practitioner of health-care fraud. Second, The Birmingham News has been a stellar supporter of Bob Riley--even though federal-court documents indicate the ex-governor's son has been up to his neck in health-care fraud.
The Obama Department of Justice (DOJ), as part of its effort to reform health care, has made tackling Medicare fraud a top priority. The lawsuit against Riley and his company, Performance Group LLC, was filed during the Bush administration. Alice Martin, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama at the time, elected not to intervene in the case, probably because she wanted to help protect a political ally.
William M. Acker Jr., an 83-year-old Reagan appointee, made a number of extremely curious rulings--and the case was dismissed without prejudice, which means it can be refiled. I've recently seen Acker operate up close, and he is a dreadful excuse for a judge. Our guess is that Acker is trying to protect Rob Riley in the whistleblower case--and possibly in my ongoing employment lawsuit against UAB, too.
Will the DOJ, now under the direction of a supposed Democrat (Eric Holder), have the guts to investigate someone who has political connections? We aren't holding our breath. But the case of Rob Riley and Performance Group is important on multiple levels.
For one, at least two of Riley's associates in the company--Drs. Thomas Spurlock and Francois Blaudeau--are affiliated with UAB. Spurlock is a faculty member in the UAB Department of Surgery and president of Alabama Pain Consultants, which is under the Performance Group LLC umbrella. That means Medicare fraud that benefits private individuals could be reaching into a public institution--one that receives massive amounts of federal and state taxpayer dollars.
If that's the case, it would not be the first time UAB has been connected to health-care fraud. The university settled a federal whistleblower case in 2005 for $3.4 million, a fraction of the actual alleged fraud. Did that wrist slap correct the fraud problem at UAB. Considering the allegations in the Performance Group LLC case, and the involvement of UAB personnel, the answer probably is no.
Performance Group LLC provides physical therapy through the use of medical devices such as back and neck braces. That is an area of health care that is ripe for fraud cases. Reports The New York Times:
The medical device business is filled with small start-up companies trying to generate excitement about their new products and technologies, hoping to build market share and to attract deep-pocketed buyout offers. It has been fraught with allegations of bribes, exaggerated claims, and other unethical behavior.
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