Fighting for Patients’ Rights

Medicare’s campaign to fight provider fraud and abuse is giving the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), an AFSCME affiliate, a new tool to help patients get all the Medicare benefits to which they are entitled.

Medicare fraud has become a major health care issue: managed care corporations like Columbia/HCA and Quorum have been charged with systematically bilking Medicare and other government health insurance programs. Under pressure to catch the problems at an earlier stage, the government has developed “fraud-busting” kits to teach Medicare beneficiaries how to decipher their medical bills.

The UAPD has decided to put the kits to positive use by showing patients how billing codes are used to describe services rendered. “We’re offering to review with the patients and show them where Medicare may be making mistakes” by denying claims says UAPD President Robert Weinmann, M.D.

Physicians worry that the anti-fraud crusade will create tensions between patients and their doctors. “Certainly we want to uncover fraud” on the part of health care providers, says Weinmann, but Medicare should also be held accountable for its errors.