Healthcare Fraud Lawyer
The American healthcare system is one of the most complicated public health systems in the world. Most people receive their healthcare through private insurance companies or through government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, and the bureaucracies that regulate these entities are complicated and confusing to even professional administrators.
Healthcare Fraud is any act that enables financial gain through fraudulent activities associated with the healthcare industry. Healthcare fraud is not limited to patients alone, for healthcare fraud can include professionals such as dentists, physicians, hospitals and health insurance providers.
As America has aged and health care costs have soared the number of cases of health care fraud have increased significantly. Some of these cases are predicated upon criminal behavior. Others are situations in which people find themselves entangled in the legal system because of paperwork snafus, misfiling and misunderstandings. In all of these cases experienced, skilled legal representation is required to provide individuals their best legal options and to achieve the best possible results. This is an area in law in which government officials have stepped up their efforts, in part because many of the allegations stem from Medicare or Medicaid coverage. The combination of a new focus on health care fraud from the authorities and the development of specialized technology to assist them in their investigations have caused patients, doctors, health care professional and administrators across the country to suddenly find themselves named as defendants in such cases.
Many of these allegations stem from overzealous prosecution of what appear to be paperwork crimes stemming from investigations into up-coding, over-billing, double billing, unnecessary treatments, kickbacks, conflicts of interest and inflated expenses. Because much of this paperwork is transmitted there are frequently charges filed under mail or wire fraud laws that can lead to multiple charges and seriously inflate the fines and other penalties that a defendant can face.
Like all enormous bureaucracies, simple mistakes can evolve and expand into potentially devastating legal situations. What can begin as a bookkeeping error or innocent oversight can quickly escalate into charges of healthcare fraud. It takes a great deal of legal experience to filter through the different aspects of healthcare fraud, and many people discover to their dismay that not every lawyer is created equal when it comes to defending charges of healthcare fraud.
If you are one of the untold numbers of people charged with healthcare fraud you must contact a criminal defense lawyer immediately. The sooner you consult an experienced and dedicated health care fraud attorney, the better your chances that you will receive a better judgment. Contact an attorney today!
