You, like numerous others in the health care industry, likely entered the medical field because you had a desire to help others. Perhaps from a young age, you felt the need to tend to others and believed that becoming a doctor, nurse or other medical professional was your calling in life.
Though your workdays undoubtedly have their ups and downs, you likely never expected to find yourself facing criminal charges for health care fraud. Nonetheless, such serious allegations are on your doorstep, and you may understandably wonder what to do. A wise first step is to gain information on where the suspicion came from.
What is health care fraud?
Different actions could constitute fraud, and in the health care industry, it can come in many forms, including the following:
- Ordering medically-unnecessary tests, operations and other procedures and falsifying a patient’s diagnosis to make those tests seem necessary
- Performing those medically-unnecessary procedures simply for the payout from insurance companies
- Billing each step of a procedure separately rather than bundling the entire process together, often causing greater expense
- Billing for services that you never performed
- Obtaining insurance payments by making non-covered procedures appear as procedures covered by the patient’s insurance
- Accepting kickbacks, such as money or other benefits, for patient referrals
- Over-billing the insurance company after waiving a patient’s deductible or co-pay
- Billing for more expensive treatment than actually provided
If you stand accused of any of these or other similar actions, you could find yourself in a difficult legal predicament. Authorities take fraud of any type seriously, and health care fraud is no different.
Defending your innocence
Of course, though criminal accusations of fraud have come against you, it does not mean that you are guilty. Rather than feeling out of hope and disheartened by the fact that others would accuse you of wrongdoing, you may instead want to focus on defending against the charges you face. Obtaining more information on health care fraud, understanding your possible defense options and learning how to gain assistance from a Louisiana attorney may help you as your case moves forward.
Your career, your reputation and other important aspects of your life are on the line in this type of scenario, and you certainly want to handle it effectively. Exploring your options may give you the opportunity to find the defense strategies with which you feel most comfortable.
