Commerce Hospital Cuts Jobs

45 jobs have been cut from a northeast Georgia hospital due to what it says is declining revenue from Medicare and Medicaid. The BJC Medical Center in Commerce says it provided more than $1.3 million in services to indigent patients last year. The hospital also says it absorbed $5 million in losses from unpaid medical bills. Support staff took the brunt of the cuts, but positions were also eliminated from medical staff. The Commerce hospital has a staff of about 400.

Insurance agent arrested on fraud charges

Insurance Commissioner John W. Oxendine announced on Friday that a Gwinnett County insurance agent has been arrested on insurance fraud charges.

The suspect, Lonnie Robinson, 59, of Flowery Branch, allegedly forged the signatures of two elderly women, a 74, and a 90-year-old on applications for Medicare Advantage policies.

“I have no tolerance for criminals who attempt to defraud elderly victims like this,” Oxendine said, and cautioned Georgians to be wary of rip-off artists when contacted about switching to a Medicare drug plan.

Robinson has been charged with two counts of insurance fraud, according to a statement from Oxendine's office.

All of the approved plans are available at www.medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

Exec guilty of Medicaid fraud

A former executive was found guilty of Medicare fraud yesterday. Angela Isley of Atlanta stole more than 600 thousand dollars in state funds and more than 360 thousand from the medical supply company Orthoscript.

Officials say Isley assigned incorrect product codes to items at the Alpharetta-based company in order to receive higher payments from Medicare. She also used company checks to pay personal credit card bills.

Isley faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and hefty fines for health care fraud, mail fraud and money laundering. She will be sentenced in July.

Hospital to settle lawsuit

One Georgia’s most prestigious hospitals has agreed to pay millions to settle a whistleblower lawsuit. St. Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta will settle accusations that from 2000 to 2005, it submitted outpatient Medicare claims that should have been billed inpatient. The hospital received much higher payments as a result. The nurse who blew the whistle on the hospital will receive nearly 5-million dollars as part of the settlement.

Nursing home residents need new homes

Two nursing homes will lose Medicare funding in 30 days, and many families are worried their loved ones will have no place to go.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has pulled funding from two nursing homes owned by Rome-based Forum Healthcare group.

It said it had determined that patients at the facilities were in - quote – “immediate jeopardy.”

According to the Rome News Tribune, about half the patients in the two homes are on Medicare. This means close to a hundred patients will either have to move or pay for their care out-of-pocket.

Rome has just five other nursing homes. Only two, according to the newspaper account, have room for more than a couple of additional patients

Forum Healthcare officials say they are appealing the decision and hope to avert the crisis.

Savannah chiropractor pleads guilty to fraud

A former Savannah chiropractor has pleaded guilty to health care fraud. Eric Baty is charged with conspiring to bill more than $5-million dollars worth of false claims to Medicare and Georgia Medicaid. Baty also allegedly filed false bills with private insurers with fake medical records of automobile accident victims. Baty could serve up to 5 years in prison and pay a quarter million dollars in fines.