Providers who take care of the poorer patients in our health care delivery system are usually black physicians. Most of their patients are on public assistance, either Medicaid or Medicare. It is well documented by health care researchers that blacks in America compared to whites have a higher incidence of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, renal failure, complications from diabetes, "excess deaths", and lesser on longevity. Knowing these documented facts, the billing patterns for black doctors will always be higher than doctors who practice in more affluent communities. Unfortunately, when Medicaid and Medicare contractors and other health care regulators review the billing patterns of physicians practicing in these poor communities, they unfairly compare you to "peers" who are white and do not care for the same type of patients. Black doctors treatment of the sicker patients are perceived as "excessive" or "over utilization" of medical services. This is conceived as fraudulent and most often will be investigated. Any black doctor in a poorer neighborhood who crosses Medicare's threshold of $500,000 per year has a nearly 100% chance of a being investigated for fraud by the FBI, OIG or the Medicare contractor. Once one of the health care regulators start an investigation, an onslaught of other federal and state agencies are very close behind. The black doctor has to get legal representation and begin to fight on multiple fronts. Physicians who have never had no criminal record, professional career is now in jeopardy for fulfilling his promise and oath that he took at graduation. This happened to me in 1997, forcing me to close my practice in 2001 and it continues to happen to black doctors all across America in 2013. Feel free to share your story with me at the link below:
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