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Vascular Surgeon Thrown in Prison for Some Coding Errors
- Thread starter Precedex
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If the Grand Jury Indictment is correct, this is a lot more than just a coding error.
The indictment lists 5 patients upon whom Dr. Natale performed AAA repairs, and in which he is accused of exaggerating the surgical repair done. His exaggerations were found in both the medical record (op reports) as well as in his coding. Among other things, he was accused of billing for and documenting repairs of infra-renal aneurysms as if they were juxta or supra renal aneurysms and coding and documenting renal artery reimplantations that were not performed.
Of course, this is only the indictment, which is always the worst case scenario, but Dr. Natale certainly didn't do himself any favors if he did, in fact, dictate his operative reports 4 months or so after the fact, as is claimed in the indictment.
Would be interested in hearing some of the defense.
- pod
The indictment lists 5 patients upon whom Dr. Natale performed AAA repairs, and in which he is accused of exaggerating the surgical repair done. His exaggerations were found in both the medical record (op reports) as well as in his coding. Among other things, he was accused of billing for and documenting repairs of infra-renal aneurysms as if they were juxta or supra renal aneurysms and coding and documenting renal artery reimplantations that were not performed.
Of course, this is only the indictment, which is always the worst case scenario, but Dr. Natale certainly didn't do himself any favors if he did, in fact, dictate his operative reports 4 months or so after the fact, as is claimed in the indictment.
Would be interested in hearing some of the defense.
- pod
According to another media report:
""The evidence at trial showed, and the jury found, that for at least two patients in 2004, Natale prepared false post-operation reports that, among other things, contained extensive details about aneurysm repairs that he never performed, and falsely described the surgeries he did perform as being more complex and elaborate than they actually were. In the case of one patient whose medical condition deteriorated a year after Natale operated, another surgeon testified that he had to untangle the falsehoods in Natale's records, which, if relied upon, would have had a serious impact on his subsequent treatment of that patient."
It is likely that last sentence that "killed" him...
""The evidence at trial showed, and the jury found, that for at least two patients in 2004, Natale prepared false post-operation reports that, among other things, contained extensive details about aneurysm repairs that he never performed, and falsely described the surgeries he did perform as being more complex and elaborate than they actually were. In the case of one patient whose medical condition deteriorated a year after Natale operated, another surgeon testified that he had to untangle the falsehoods in Natale's records, which, if relied upon, would have had a serious impact on his subsequent treatment of that patient."
It is likely that last sentence that "killed" him...
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True or not, he could have avoided the federal hassle by avoiding medicare patients. Surgeons have that luxury, I don't.
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D
deleted126335
They got Al Capone for tax evasion.
Maybe this was the cleanest, surest thing that they could get him with.
Maybe this was the cleanest, surest thing that they could get him with.
Fraud is fraud, no matter if it is federal money, commercial insurance, or self-pay. True, it might not be the federal government doing the prosecution, but depending on your state, you might prefer a federal sentence and a federal prison to a stint in the county jail/state prison.
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Maybe the take-home point is to commit your crimes against targets with fewer teeth.
Arch Guillotti
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This was discussed on sermo as well. Not some trivial little coding issue.
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Just another piece of garbage. I really wonder how much of this is going on.
Why can't people just be honest with what they do. If they don't make enough money doing what they do, they should just go on and do something else.
Why can't people just be honest with what they do. If they don't make enough money doing what they do, they should just go on and do something else.
