Month: June 2011

The owner of a Milwaukee medical transport company has been charged with falsifying records of dozens of trips to defraud Medicaid out of more than $10,000, according to a criminal complaint. As part of the scheme, Frederick Rutledge, 43, of Menomonee Falls submitted documentation that listed him as the driver on multiple trips in different vans at the same time, according to the complaint charging him with 18 counts of medical assistance fraud. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 6/7)

In Rock County, nearly $152 million in unneeded health care expense can be attributed every year to low health literacy, according to a 2009 study by Dr. John A. Vernon, a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In Walworth County, those unneeded costs total nearly $99 million. The wasted cost for Wisconsin is $3.3 billion to $7.6 billion, according to Vernon's study. (JANESVILLE GAZETTE, 6/7)

By the end of the year, the largest solar project yet built in Wisconsin will take shape in the rolling countryside that Epic Systems calls home. And by the middle of next year, the new solar "farm" will double in size again. Clearly, Epic, a fast-growing provider of sought-after health care software that's hiring 1,000 people just this year, doesn't embrace small projects. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 6/7)

More people are using food stamps in Wisconsin and across the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says food stamp use nationwide increased 11 percent from March of 2010 to March of this year. Wisconsin's increase was also 11 percent with more than 800,000 people receiving assistance through the state's FoodShare program. (AP, 6/7)

A review by the Journal Sentinel - part of a larger investigation into FoodShare fraud - found nine Facebook users in Milwaukee and about 70 altogether nationwide who posted to Facebook seeking to either buy or sell food assistance benefits illegally or help others do so. Many more friends responded, and in some cases, later posts indicated that the sales were made. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 6/7)

A key government experiment that set out to lower costs and coordinate care for Medicare patients -- now the blueprint for an innovation the Obama administration is trying to move to a national scale -- has failed to save a substantial amount of money. The five-year test enlisted 10 leading health systems around the country and offered financial bonuses if they could save enough by treating older patients more efficiently while providing high-quality care…One of the participants, Wisconsin's Marshfield Clinic, was by far the biggest winner of bonus payments. (WASHINGTON POST, 6/3)

The state rapidly privatized much of its enrollment work in aid programs for the poor with little oversight from the Legislature and in possible violation of federal rules, a new state audit has found. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 6/3)

Ripon Medical Center is now part of Agnesian HealthCare. Leaders from Ripon Medical Center (RMC) and Agnesian signed papers Tuesday seeking a "full affiliation." (FOND DU LAC REPORTER, 6/3)

The Assembly Health Committee held a hearing this week on legislation that would allow physicians to say things such as “I’m sorry,” without those words be admissable in a malpractice lawsuit. This bill has been proposed the last several sessions. A version even passed the legislature in 2005, but vetoed by then-Governor Jim Doyle. The bill is now spearheaded by two lawmakers who are also physicians, Senator Pam Galloway (R-Wausau) and State Representative Erik Severson (R-Star Prairie). (WISCONSIN RADIO NETWORK, 6/3)

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson says increasing the country's debt limit could be tied to approving GOP plans to overhaul Medicare. Johnson suggested reforming the federal program might be the "negotiating settlement" to raise the debt ceiling. (APPLETON POST CRESCENT, 6/2)