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Now Here's A Bad Idea: Government Decreases Funding to Fight Medicare Fraud

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  Budget cuts are making healthcare whistleblowers more important than ever. According to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, thanks to cuts in the HHS budget, Medicare and Medicaid are about to have even fewer resources to fight fraud and abuse. The Center for Public Integrity obtained internal documents from HHS-OIG that discuss the effects budget cuts are about to have on Medicare's ability to defend itself against fraud in the medical field -- and the outlook is grim. In all, OIG is losing 400 employees - a full 20% of its staff - as a result of the cuts. Now that is a short-sighted plan. I don't know whether Congress or HHS is deciding where to place the cuts, but it is a huge mistake to cut funding from the branch of the agency devoted to getting money back in to Medicare and Medicaid coffers. As a whistleblower attorney, I can attest that there are brave men and women willing to risk their jobs to try to stop fraud. But these whistleb

Can Georgia Teenager Drivers Have Passengers in Their Cars?

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  The   American Automobile Association (AAA)  conducted a very interesting study looking at newly-licensed teen drivers. Having observed a proportionally higher number of teen drivers causing car accidents, AAA decided to look at their driving behaviors. In   DistractedDrivingAmongNewlyLicensedTeenDriversPR.pdf , AAA reported on a study in which it had mounted cameras on the front windshields of teens' cars, videoing both facing outward, toward the front of the car, and also into the passenger compartment of the vehicle. AAA put several video clips on its web site.  https://askcompetentlawyer.com/   These clips show the teens engaging in risky driving behaviors. I have been using the videos to look at how   Georgia law on teenagers causing wrecks , or otherwise engaging in risky driving behaviors. I have been writing about the video of one boy in particular, so far. I will be addressing other videos in future entries. All of the videos scared me witless, but for some reason this o

The Sad, Sad Truth: Car Wrecks in Georgia, By the (Very Depressing) Numbers

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  The Georgia Department of Transportation ("DOT") has given us some pretty serious food for thought about car wrecks in Georgia, in a report it issued in January 2008. The report,   Crash Analysis, Statistics & Incidents , has some very sobering facts about the car accidents occurring around Georgia, for people like me, a   Georgia car wreck attorney , and for all Georgians. 1. From 2000 to 2006, over 6 million people were involved in car accidents in Georgia. DOT reminds us that this means 2, 394 people are involved in car crashes every single day. 2. In that same period, one million people were injured in car or truck accidents in Georgia. 3. In a single week, 2,500 people are injured in car accidents on Georgia roads. 4. Even more tragically, 31 people die every week because they were in a car wreck somewhere in Georgia. 5. Between 2000 and 2006, 11,345 people died in car crashes in Georgia. 6. The most dangerous roads in Georgia are not the speedways through metropol

Atlanta's Worst Car Crashes: November 2008

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  Why do we have so many deadly car wrecks here in Atlanta? And what can we do to cut back on them? I practice law here in Atlanta, and I represent people who need an Atlanta   car accident lawyer . I have met with families who have been devastated because they lost someone they loved very dearly in a car crash, and I have seen people with serious injuries struggling to rebuild their physical health and deal with the crushing financial and emotional consequences of a serious personal injury from an auto collision. I have been blogging about the car accidents that happened in 2008 and 2009 (the latest data available) in order to see whether we can see trends that would help us cut back on these crashes. Today I will be talking about the deadly car crashes that happened in the city of Atlanta in November 2008. That month five people died in car accidents. Atlanta police attributed one of those five fatal car wrecks to a drunken driver. On November 2, 2008, an Atlanta driver died when he

As State Cuts University Budgets, College Students Take Out Bigger Student Loans in Tennessee

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  Tennessee universities are short on cash, and its students who are bailing them out. While Tennessee funded 55 percent of public college budgets in 2002, a decade later the state is only covering 30 percent, according The Tennessean. As a result, students are being crushed under a load of ever-increasing debt. Students at Middle Tennessee State University, for example, now have a cumulative student debt of $63 million - or $5 million more than the previous year. Meanwhile, scholarships are increasingly more difficult to come by. For college students lucky enough to find financial aid, many programs are covering smaller percentages of expenses. Despite threats by President Obama to withhold federal aid if colleges don't stop hiking costs, tuitions keep going up. Typical student debts can range anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 by graduation time. When economic times are good, it's possible for new grads to pay the bills with an entry-level job. Unfortunately, today's econo

False Claims Act Case Stops Double Billing By Maryland Cardiologist

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  According to the   Department of Justice press release , a Maryland nuclear cardiologist and his two companies double billed for myocardial perfusion studies, also known as nuclear stress tests. A federal court in the District of Columbia has entered a $17 million judgment against the three in a False Claims Act ("FCA") healthcare lawsuit. Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General apparently found this case itself, without the help of a whistleblower. I wrote recently about the problems that Medicare is going to face given recent, extreme budget cuts for OIG.  https://askcompetentlawyer.com/medicare-medicaid-fraud/   This case is precisely the type that will go undetected as OIG ramps down its enforcement efforts due to deep budget cuts. As OIG loses its ability to fight fraud, we are going to become more and more dependent on whistleblowers to keep Medicare and Medicaid from getting swindled. I am an attorney who represents whistleblowers, so I know th

Proof Positive - The Jimmy Carter Boulevard Exit at I-85 Needs Fixing

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  In a recent   study done for the Georgia Department of Transportation , which looked at incidents that occurred at 13 different exits along I-85, Jimmy Carter Boulevard had - by far -- the largest number of incidents. As a   car accident attorney , I have seen that a large number of car wrecks occur at that exit. Still, I was surprised at the extent to which the intersection has become a problem. The study looked at car accidents, stalled cars, and other traffic-snarling events. A whopping 21% of the incidents occurred at that one intersection. Clearly the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) needs to take a look at the Jimmy Carter intersection and see whether improvements can be made to make the intersection safer and less congested for drivers. The Study In 2011, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) converted a 16-mile stretch of HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lane along I-85 into a HOT (high-occupancy toll) lane. The stretch of roadway runs through DeKalb County,