Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

In other news ...

• A California cancer specialist was charged last week with billing Medicare and other insurers for up to $1 million in charges for injectible cancer medications that he never provided.

According to an April 15 Dept. of Justice news release, the Orange County-based doctor billed for some meds that he didn't inject, while he upcoded for other drugs that he did inject, telling Medicare that he injected a more expensive drug than he actually provided in some cases.

The DOJ indicates that the physician's staff had advised him that he was billing improperly, but notes that he continued to bill fraudulently for a total of five years. The physician pled guilty to five counts of healthcare fraud under a plea agreement.