Heather Avant always dresses up when she goes to the emergency room. “I’ve been conditioned to act and behave in a very specific way,” said Avant. “I try to do my hair. I make sure I shower, have nice clothes. Sometimes I put on my University of Michigan shirt.” It’s a strategy to combat discrimination the 42-year-old photographer in Mesquite, Texas, has developed over a lifetime of managing her...
A Texas-based dermatology management company recently agreed to pay the U.S. government approximately $8.9 million, including $5.9 million in restitution, to settle self-reported allegations of potential violations of the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute resulting in liability under the False Claims Act. The Settlement Agreement According to the settlement agreement, from January 2013 to...
Approved over a decade ago, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is moderately effective. Tailoring the treatment to individual brains may improve results. In the mid-1970s, a British researcher named Anthony Barker wanted to measure the speed at which electrical signals travel down the long, slender nerves that can carry signals from the brain to muscles like those in the hand, triggering...
Whether a clinical laboratory is a start-up or has been in business for years it is likely that giving away free testing is occurring without owners and operators even knowing it. Successful, established labs are even more susceptible, as high-volume claims can actually mask losses. However, over time, hundreds of thousands of dollars are at stake and any dip in claims volume can create an...
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series - Uncovered:How the Insurance Industry Denies Coverage to Patients Health insurers reject millions of claims for treatment every year in America. Corporate insiders, recordings and internal emails expose the system and its harm. Have you ever...
Sally Nix was furious when her health insurance company refused to pay for the infusions she needs to ease her chronic pain and fatigue. Nix has struggled with a combination of autoimmune diseases since 2011. Brain and spinal surgeries didn’t ease her symptoms. Nothing worked, she said, until she started intravenous immunoglobulin infusions late last year. Commonly called IVIG, the treatment...
