UnitedHealth's Optum Division Settles Case Alleging it Enrolled Non-Terminally Ill Patients in Hospice, Thus Risking Their Deaths Due to Treatable Illnesses

Discussion The problem of fraudulant enrollment of non-terminal patients in hospice continues, despite our efforts over five years to make the problem more public.  The latest case involved a very big, very wealthy for-profit health care corporation which has had its share of troubles in the past.  Yet the latest case is as anechoic as earlier ones, including smaller cases this year.These enrollments may be motivated by the desire for more money, but they put patients at risk.  Nonetheless, such abuses by hospices get little press coverage, seemingly are ignored by health care regulators and law enforcement, and are almost completely anechoic in the health care, medical and health policy literature. If a measure of society is how it cares for the most vulnerable patients, the US laissez faire approach to for-profit hospices suggests a society in decline.To repeat what I wrote the last time for-profit hospices were (barely) in the news for enrolling the wrong patients,... In my humble opinion, we should return control of direct patient care, especially of the most vulnerable patients, to health care professionals and if necessary small non-profit community organizations.  We ought to give strong consideration to banning corporate hospices, and banning all forms of the corporate practice of medicine and corporate health care "delivery." Given how many insiders make so much money from the current version of laissez faire capitalism in health c...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Management Tags: fraud hospices legal settlements UnitedHealth Source Type: blogs