A former employee has filed suit against Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates claiming he was wrongly terminated after discovering fraudulent Medicare billing, according to a Naples Daily News report.
Paul Meyer, the former director of HMA’s corporate compliance department, claims he identified improper billing at Physicians Regional Healthcare System in Naples. The for-profit system allegedly billed federal insurers for inpatient status when patients had been treated as outpatients.
When he reported the alleged Medicare fraud billing in Jan. 2011, Mr. Meyer claims HMA changed his job duties to limit his contact with the hospitals in question and eliminate his compliance duties. He was fired on Sept. 6 after working at HMA since March 2006.
Officials from HMA say they fired Mr. Meyer for insubordination when he refused to cooperate with an internal investigation and also for disclosing confidential internal information, according to the report. The system says Mr. Meyer had documents belonging to the company that he refused to return.
Prior to his employment at HMA, Mr. Meyer worked 30 years for the FBI as a supervisor of the healthcare fraud unit.
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