Scooter Store scammed $108m from U.S. taxpayers You’ve seen those ubiquitous ads on TV of a seemingly good-hearted store that promised elderly and disabled Americans a motorized scooter FOR FREE! Because, the ad assures its viewers, Medicare will pay for it!!!! I’ve seen those ads too, and had wondered how the Scooter Store could be so 100% confident that *ANYONE* who wanted a scooter was assured one — FOR FREE! To quote the eminently sensible Judge Judy: “If it doesn’t make sense, it’s not true.” When was the last time you’ve seen a Scooter Store commercial? At least many months, if not a year or two. Here’s why . . . . Founded in 1991 by Doug and Susanna Harrison, the privately-owned Scooter Store is headquartered in New Braunfels, Texas, and serve 48 states. It is the largest supplier of mobility vehicles in the United States. In February 2013 the company Store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ceased all cash sales to the public, after a raid by more than 150 FBI agents and local cops for Medicare-Medicaid fraud of as much as $108 million. During its heyday, the Scooter Store had employed more than 2,400 people and was New Braunfels’ largest private employer. On September 13, 2013, the company entered liquidation and terminated its remaining 370 employees. Effective October 26, the Scooter Store lost its federal contract with Medicare eliminating the ability to sell assets in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. So the company’s board of directors made the decision to essentially liquidate the business. Medicare has accounted for about three-quarters of the Scooter Store’s business, a company representative told a U.S. Senate committee last year. But an independent auditor found The Scooter Store had received between $46.8 million and $87.7 million in Medicare overpayments. The company is accused by the Justice Department of harassing doctors with constant phone calls and surgery visits in order to wear them down to prescribe scooters to patients who do not need them. A damning exposé by CBS This Morning in January alleged that the company over-billed Medicare by $108 million between 2009-2012. Former Scooter Store employee Brian Setzer told CBS that company’s main goal was to use pressure to get doctors to prescribe their vehicles. Setzer described the company’s policy was to “Bulldoze and get them to get the paperwork done.” He said his bosses would order him to annoy doctors into prescribing the scooters: “I’d get a call, ‘Well, can you go in to get him to do this? Could you get him to do this.’ I couldn’t feel right in my heart to do that.” Here’s the extent of Scooter Store’s scam: ◾The company had a specialized department devoted to getting the scooters for patients who had already been ruled ineligible by Medicare. ◾About 80% of all claims for scooters were found to be medically unnecessary. ◾61% of claims that were approved should not have been, totaling $95 million. ◾What Medicare paid the Scooter Store was FOUR TIMES the average amount spent by suppliers for standard power wheelchairs. ◾The federal government taxpayers spent $723 million for the scooters in Medicare reimbursements for 2009 alone.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 00:51:00 +0000
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