health south accounting irregularities: A Presentation and Overview
As a part of this presentation, I, as an independent auditor commissioned by the committee of the firm representing the HealthSouth Corporation, wish to make clear that the company I have just audited, though tarred and feathered by the modern media, is not nearly at fault as one might initially believe, given the nature of the following components peculiar to the health services and health care industry. Although HealthSouth's supposed irregularities may have been elided in the public imagination with corporations such as Enron, it is not an 'imaginary corporation.' Mistakes were made, but these mistakes should not cause individuals to forget the ongoing quality of care still provided by the company.
The company's former CEO Richard M. Scrushy never told the company's primary accountants to falsify financial reports. Furthermore, these accountants would have reported accounting irregularities had they known about them. Scrushy has stated openly that he was not heavily involved in the finances of the company at its outset. Mr. Scrushy was the idea man who came up with the concept of a rehabilitation company, not its financial mastermind. This lack of financial awareness...
There is a substantial division between accounting, and the actual ideas and management of the health care company's mission itself. ("Executives Say they were not aware of accounting problems," MSNBC.com.)
HealthSouth is currently seeking a 300 million dollar refund from the Federal Government on the over inflated profits it reported on its assets. As part of the auditing regarding its refund, it has been noted that the "important news I heard is there are no immediate or glaring Medicare fraud violations," said Thomas H. Shinkle, a health care analyst at Imperial Capital LLC in Beverly Hills, Calif. "The core business remains intact and is doing well.... It does give the company some maneuvering room vis-a-vis its creditors to repay debt." (Johnson, 2003)
The reasons over inflated profits are thus at least being openly addressed. Nor is Medicare fraud, affecting the most vulnerable individuals in the health care industry the main people part of the alleged financial irregularities. Rather, what is in question is that the…
President George Bush proposed a two part strategy with initial implemented drug coverage to low-income beneficiaries coupled with a White House task force to develop a plan to reform Medicare (Health Policy, 2001). Under this plan beneficiaries with income 135% below the national poverty guidelines would be eligible for full prescription drug coverage and a sliding scale would be provided for those under 175% (Health Policy 2001). The most controversial
Medicaid and Medicare Fraud Describe health news story combating health care fraud Medicare Medicaid• Examine evaluate corporate structure governance, culture, focus social responsibility • Recommends Medicare and Medicaid fraud: An overview Medicare and Medicaid fraud: An overview While there is still little consensus regarding the best ways to go about enacting healthcare reform, one issue that unites both Democrats and Republicans is the need to eliminate Medicaid and Medicare waste, fraud and abuse. According
Fraudulent activities such as these resulted in violations under the act, including a fine of not more than $25,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both. Analysis of Current Fraud legal analysis of the current fraud committed in the Medicare and Medicaid programs indicates that reforms are in place to detect this fraud, and the involvement of governmental, local and federal police and investigation authorities has increased
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), previously the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), that by the time 2011, health care expenditure will arrive at $2.8 trillion, as well as it will bill for 17% of the Gross Domestic Product. As a result, it is no revelation that white-collar offenders observe health care deception as a rewarding effort. Certainly, the General Accounting Office ("GAO") quotes that such deception accounts for up
Fraud and Abuse Case Healthcare fraud and abuse continues to threaten the country, costing the facility billions of dollars per year. Brodeur, (2007) stated that fraud is something difficult to understand because it is a contagious issue. Healthcare fraud and abuse according to Brosman & Roper (2007) is the most profitable thing one can take part in if he/she is a crook, it avoid all channels and legal procedures, in nutshell,
Fraud and Abuse United States v. Greber -- 3rd Circuit, 1985 Facts: Dr. Greber's company, Cardio-Med, supplied Holter monitors, a device worn by patients that records heartbeats for later interpretation. Investigations showed that Cardio-Med billed Medicare and gave a portion of each payment to the prescribing physician, under the heading, "interpretation fees," even when Dr. Greber actually did the interpretation of the data. It was found that the fixed percentage paid to the