-Caveat Lector- Masonic facility to repay Medicaid By KEN DIXON Aug. 17 - HARTFORD -- One of the state's largest health providers improperly billed the state for $12 million over nine years in Connecticut's largest case of Medicaid negligence, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal charged Thursday. But the president and CEO of the company, Masonicare of Wallingford, said fraud was not an issue and there were no allegations of substandard care in its 548-bed geriatric, acute-care and psychiatric complex. Masonicare is an affiliate of the Ancient Free & Accepted Masons of Connecticut. Blumenthal, however, said there was evidence of widespread malfeasance and has referred the case to state and federal authorities for possible criminal charges. "In this Medicaid abuse case, they literally threw everything, including the kitchen sink, into their wrongful claim report, when they asked for reimbursement of apartment renovations," Blumenthal said during a morning news conference. "It certainly was abusive, improper and probably fraudulent in many respects." The nonprofit Masonic Geriatric Healthcare Center of Wallingford improperly claimed about $12 million in state Medicaid funds administered by the state Department of Social Services. About $3 million in property improvements and renovations should never have been part of the reimbursement requests, according to Blumenthal and the DSS >From July 1992 through June of this year, DSS made about $11 million in payments that were either prohibited by Medicaid or should have been reimbursed under other programs. Deputy DSS Commissioner Michael Starkowski said, "It remains among our highest priorities to ensure the integrity of state-funded health-care payments to facilities charged with caring for our most vulnerable populations. Today's settlement, which represents almost $12 million in restitution for wrongly expended state funds, not only acknowledges that we will catch abusive and negligent practices, but it's worth the effort." Under the settlement, MGHC will return the $10,886,000 in Medicaid overpayments and pay an additional $1,014,000 for costs associated with the inquiry conducted by the Attorney General's Office and DSS. The Wallingford complex also will have to establish a corporate integrity program in cooperation with the state's Medical Assistance Program. In a statement issued Thursday, Barry M. Spero, Masonicare's president and CEO, said the company "has taken steps to ensure all future cost reporting meets complex state regulations." He admitted that the firm "takes full responsibility for any errors that may have been made." Spero indicated that with the company's "rapid expansion" into a variety of services, from cemeteries to psychiatric care, staff administrators may have been overwhelmed. "We know through our own internal review and the state's audit that although Masonicare's delivery of care was of the highest standards, our business and information systems were not able to keep pace," Spero said. The company has hired a new financial staff, purchased a new computer system and hired consultants to oversee future integrity, he said. Blumenthal said that, over the last four years, state Medicaid fraud investigators have succeeded in retrieving about $33 million in payments from a variety of state contractors. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
