Legislation The following is
the only sleep-related prosecution noted in HHS-OIG Semiannual
Report to Congress for October - March of FY 2010
Durable Medical
Equipment Suppliers
■ Florida– A durable medical equipment company,
Nationwide Medical, Inc. (Nationwide) agreed to pay the
Government $2 million for allegedly violating the anti-kickback statute. Between
September 30, 2004, and June 25, 2007, Nationwide and its President and Chief Executive Officer, allegedly entered into professional
services agreements (PSA) with sleep labs and other health care providers
(collectively, “sleep labs”) in multiple States. Under the PSAs, Nationwide
provided continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices and associated
equipment to the sleep labs and paid the sleep labs a “set-up fee” each time a
sleep lab provided Nationwide’s device and equipment to a patient. Nationwide
submitted claims for reimbursement to Medicare for the delivery of the CPAP
device and associated equipment, as well as for the monthly rental of the CPAP
device and replacement supplies.
FSMS recognized by the Florida Medical Association On Sunday, July 26th 2009, the Florida Medical Association’s (FMA) House of
Delegates voted in the affirmative to officially recognize the Florida Sleep
Medicine Society. Effectively this means that the FSMS will have a vote at the annual FMA meeting. This honor affirms the role of sleep medicine as an independent medical specialty in Florida.
1992 Florida Patient Self-Referral Act On June 15, 2009 Senate Bill 1986, the medicaid
fraud Bill that contains the amendment to the 1992 Florida Self-Referral
Act, was signed into law by Governor Christ. Follow link at end of text to download the bill and
see
line 2078 for the specific language of the amendment.
