Thursday, March 5, 2009

Medical Mutual of Ohio catches $6.2 million in fraudulent claims
Posted by Sarah Jane Tribble/Plain Dealer Reporter January 07, 2009 18:20PM
Categories: Business Impact, Impact, Insurance, Real Time News, Sarah Jane Tribble
Updated at 6:20 p.m.

Medical Mutual of Ohio, the state's largest health insurer, said it caught a record $6.2 million in fraudulent health-care claims last year, up from nearly $5 million the year before.

The company credits its computer software and a diligent investigative unit, which includes ex-police officers, for the increase.

The privately owned Cleveland-based company, which has 2,700 employees and serves about 1.6 million customers, is one of a growing number of insurers fighting fraud in the hopes of controlling health-care costs in a weak economy.

Health-care fraud typically occurs when doctors and other providers inaccurately bill the insurer or write unneeded prescriptions and perform unneeded procedures, said Lou Saccoccio, executive director of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association.

"It drives up cost -- absolutely it does," Saccoccio said. "Three to 5 percent of what insurers pay out in health benefits is fraudulent and that's going to be reflected in the premiums."

Medical Mutual's news of recovered dollars comes during a difficult time for health insurers. Two of the nation's largest health insurers plan job cuts in the wake of investment losses and a weak economy in which employers and consumers are reducing health care coverage. Cigna said earlier this week that it would cut 1,100 jobs, or 4 percent of its work force, by mid-2009; Aetna said last month that it would cut 1,000 jobs, or 3 percent of its work force.

Medical Mutual, the oldest health insurer in Ohio and one of Cleveland's largest employers, has no plans for layoffs -- though it is always "cautious on hiring," said Jared Chaney, Medical Mutual's chief communications officer.

Unlike some publicly traded competitors, the company does not answer to Wall Street, Chaney said.

"We don't have the pressure to meet quarterly targets set by analysts and year-over-year growth goals," Chaney said. "We want to turn a small profit because that profit goes into a surplus."

Medical Mutual has an operating surplus of nearly $1 billion, he said.

It's not all about money for John Shoemaker, manager of the 11-person financial investigations unit at Medical Mutual. "Not only do they steal," Shoemaker said. "In a lot of cases the services that they [doctors] render become questionable and I wonder if they're not hurting patients."


Tags: health care fraud, health costs, Medical Mutual of Ohio, National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association
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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Who is Jay Grinney ? Largest in the NATION?? Give me a break!

HEALTHSOUTH....LARGEST in the NATION!!!! OMG!

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- HealthSouth Corporation (NYSE: HLS) today announced it will participate in the Barclays Capital Global Healthcare Conference on March 10-11, 2009, at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in South Beach, Fla.


HealthSouth President and Chief Executive Officer Jay Grinney and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer John Workman will be speaking on Tuesday, March 10, at 9:30 a.m. EDT. The presentation will be webcast live and will be available at http://investor.healthsouth.com by clicking on an available link.


OMG!! ANOTHER LARGEST in the NATION!!!!
Pay attention AMERICANS!


About HealthSouth

HealthSouth is the nation's largest provider of inpatient rehabilitative healthcare services. Operating in 26 states across the country and in Puerto Rico, HealthSouth serves patients through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation satellites, and home health agencies. HealthSouth strives to be the nation's preeminent provider of inpatient rehabilitative healthcare services and can be found on the Web at www.healthsouth.com.


Media Contact
Andy Brimmer, 205-410-2777

Investor Relations Contact
Mary Ann Arico, 205-969-6175
maryann.arico@healthsouth.com