Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Advises Physicians: Steps to Take If You Detect Fraud

The physicians I know are all respected members of their communities who volunteer their time, money, and skills to make their towns and cities better places. Unfortunately, we are all aware of physicians who use their medical license to bilk the public and commit fraud. While these are the minority in the medical profession, they cast a dark shadow over the rest of the field. Some of these physicians are just crooks while others turn to fraud due to drug or gambling habits. Regardless of the reason for their deception, they can bring down unsuspecting partners in their actions. But what should you do if you discover that your medical partner is engaging in fraudulent activities? Because I have helped several physicians protect their medical licenses as they reported fraud, I wrote the following blog post to describe the process.

If you are a physician in Kansas or Missouri that has detected fraudulent activities occurring within your practice, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation. Detecting, documenting, and self-reporting the fraud should only happen with the help of experienced licensing counsel.  Your career, reputation, and livelihood are at risk, and this is a  challenge you cannot work through alone.

Steps You Should Take if You Discover Fraud Occurring in Your Practice

Many kinds of fraud occur in medical practices. Overbilling, prescription of unnecessary procedures, and billing for procedures that were not performed are all common. If you become aware of this sort of conduct, what should you do?

First, you should contact an experienced licensing attorney immediately. You will need help documenting the fraud and navigating the self-disclosure process. It is vital that you have counsel help you through that process, as your statements to any other confidant or friend will be discoverable—public—during any subsequent investigation or litigation. You want to be able to ask hard questions and disclose uncomfortable facts without those statements coming back to haunt you later.  The only way to make those disclosures and ask those questions safely is to make them to an attorney with whom you share an attorney-client privilege.

Second, you must formally put an end to any fraudulent activity. While you may not be the provider engaged in these practices, your license is jeopardized by them. The steps you take to end the fraudulent activity should be carefully and thoroughly documented. Any overpayment should be returned.

Third, with the help of licensing counsel, you should commence a thorough investigation of any fraud and an audit of all practice accounts.

Fourth, you should carefully self-disclose your findings to either the Missouri or Kansas state offices that handle Medicare and Medicaid fraud.  Because so much of the money that comes into medical practices originates in one of these state-managed federal programs, the states have offices to deal with medical provider fraud. Once again, you must not make any self-disclosure without the help of experienced counsel by your side, or you run the risk of handing over the evidence needed to suspend or revoke your medical license.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now for the Advice You Need 

Don’t let someone else’s poor judgment result in the loss of your medical license. You have worked too hard to attain your medical license to lose it because you failed to attain professional legal advice at the moment you needed it. You need to speak to a licensing attorney as soon as you become aware that those working within your practice are committing fraud.  Contacting an experienced licensing attorney now can mean the difference between getting back to helping your patients or clients and losing your career forever.

Kansas and Missouri professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger is prepared to advocate for your best interests and defend your medical license. Call Attorney Sanger at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney experienced dealing with professional licensing issues.

 

 

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