No worries, no offense taken. Seems incomprehensible unless you/your close friend/family have seen it firsthand. *Caveat- Not everyone is a crook. Some are humans just trying to get by and make a living like the rest of us. Just know that the doctor/hospital side of the equation is a top down, authoritarian system. Doctors in general need hospital privileges in order to admit patients, order tests, and see/treat their patients outside the office. It's rare to find someone who doesn't have this tether.
I just looked for these particular cases, and it seems the PTB will not return results. During the pandemic, Pharma companies and hospitals have become a sacred cow devoid of oversight and rife with politics. I imagine most stuff has been scrubbed. Apologies, you might have to take my word for it that these cases exist; however, I am providing examples of numerous kickback prosecutions, some for drugs, others for admitting patients.
Hospital systems have been shut down and fined by state attorney generals for doing kickbacks. In any given city, a certain hospital will use one antibiotic exclusively while another will use a different one- all within blocks of one another. Since most area doctors would have privileges at both places, that's statistically impossible. The kick back is based on the number of scripts written and filled there.
Here's proof of odd prescribing patterns.
"Larkin and his colleagues compared the prescribing patterns of more than 2,100 doctors at 19 hospitals with restrictions on sales calls against more than 24,500 matched doctors at hospitals with no such restrictions.
Market share for brand-name drugs decreased at hospitals with sales restrictions, while market share for generics increased, researchers found."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctors-receive-money-gifts-from-drugmakers-pharmaceutical-companies/Worker's Comp is another profitable arena as the doctor's can only prescribe the drugs within their protocol. Each state's WC board decides what that will be. You have to specifically agree to be a WC doctor and use their treatment guidelines exclusively, even if otherwise in your practice, you might do things differently for the same diagnosis.
The reason these groups get caught is often because of their Medicare and Medicaid billing profiles which have state and Federal monies. The Stark Law is designed to keep this profiteering from happening. Yet, it continues.
How kickbacks work with specific doctors.
https://medslawsuit.com/frauds/what-is-a-pharmaceutical-kickback/Cases involving hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes, laboratories, prisons, and even a software firm with all kinds of kickback schemes:
This one is hospitals receiving funds.
https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/strategy/olympus-corp-fined-646m-paying-kickbacks-hospitals "Even fifteen years after their colossal 2002 payout, which is still recognized as the largest fraud settlement in United States history, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) remains a frequent topic of discussion at the Department of Justice. Surely, it’s not hard to see why; HCA owns and operates 162 hospitals and 113 surgery facilities, the majority of which are located in the US – and with the ever-growing healthcare fraud crisis that seems to plague the nation, HCA and its subsidiaries commonly find themselves in hot water.
At the heart of the ever-present scrutiny that HCA faces lies their infamous and lengthy fraud allegations stemming from a 1997 investigation, among which were countless examples of upcoding, kickbacks, and record falsifications. The complaints, many which were brought forward by whistleblowers within the company, were filed in five separate federal court districts in Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee, and resulted in a massive discovery of the various fraudulent schemes occurring in the facilities."
https://whistleblowerjustice.net/nations-largest-healthcare-fraud-settlement-doesnt-stop-medical-behemoth/These are all from one source:
- "A medical laboratory was accused of paying kickbacks to physicians and patients to induce the use of its blood-testing services. It had been paying doctors a “processing fee” for referrals and also waiving co-payments owed by patients, according to the DOJ. The lab paid $6 million to settle the case, which was brought under the False Claims Act."
- "A nursing home pharmacy agreed to pay $28 million to settle allegations that it got kickbacks from a drug maker that had disguised its payments as “grants” and “educational funding.” In return, the pharmacy ordered more of the company’s drugs for nursing home patients, according to the DOJ. The case was related to FCA claims that were settled by the drug maker, Abbott Laboratories."
- "A prison healthcare provider paid an administrator at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for confidential information that helped it win contracts, according to the DOJ. The company settled the case for almost $2.5 million. Again, the case was brought under the FCA."
- "An operator of New York hospitals improperly compensated doctors for referrals, in part by providing them with favorable office leases, the DOJ alleged. The hospital operator paid $4 million to settle the case, which was filed under the False Claims Act."
- "A California hospital overpaid its own chief of staff, in effect giving him an illegal incentive, and had unwritten or otherwise invalid financial arrangements with dozens of local doctors and practices, according to the DOJ. The hospital paid almost $3.3 million to settle the case, which also invoked the FCA."
- "A hospital system in Georgia provided excessive salary and directorship payments to one of its doctors, in violation of the Stark Law and the FCA, according to the DOJ. The hospital system agreed to pay up to $35 million to settle the case, while the doctor himself paid $425,000."
https://www.employmentlawgroup.com/in-the-news/articles/kickbacks-medicare-fraud/Healthcare software firm doing it for opioids. Where do you think the funds came from?
https://healthcareweekly.com/practice-fusion-fined-for-opioid-kickbacks/Big Pharma--
2018 list of amounts given by Pharma to doctors and teaching hospitals for speeches, etc.
https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/$43 million fine on Pfizer for reporting false and misleading information intentionally to sell Lyrica & Zyvox.
https://consumerist.com/2012/12/12/pfizer-hit-with-43-million-settlement-for-misleading-marketing-of-drugs/Not trying to [...] on and on, but to provide information to educate on the scope of the issues. As for trauma care, we have a great system between 911 calls, ambulance/ paramedic care, then ER care. It's what happens after that's messed up. Hope it's not too scary for posting.