U.S. Healthcare Supply is in hot water over its aggressive marketing of scooters, sleep apnea devices and other products to Medicare patients who might not need the devices.
CEO Jon Letko availed himself of the the 5th Amendment right not to incriminate oneself during a Senate hearing last week, when Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) accused U.S. Healthcare Supply of taking advantage of senior citizens.
The Senate investigation, headed by the Financial & Contracting Oversight subcommittee, was called after a Missouri physician reported that companies were making cold calls to patients, who later complained of unsolicited, harassing phone calls. It’s illegal for medical equipment suppliers to call Medicare patient without their written consent or unless the supplier has already logged the patient as a customer.
Nearly 92% of the 6,100 Medicare claims submitted by U.S. Healthcare were improper, according to a Senate report, prompting auditors to seek a $100,000 clawback from the company. The total owed by U.S. Healthcare could actually run to some $50 million, according to the report.
The company disputes the report’s findings, calling it "harmful and prejudicial" and saying that it’s "replete with cherry-picked data, selective and misleading terms and conclusions, and unexamined assertions by 3rd parties," according to the newspaper.
"[W]e know your company has been willing to speak to the press about this issue, and I hope you will someday be willing to speak under oath to this committee in the same manner," McCaskill told Letko during the May 22 hearing.
Here’s video of McCaskill vowing to crack down on malign sales practices by the durable medical equipment industry.
