Several
storefront health clinics in Broward County, Fla., are under
investigation for allegedly paying HIV-positive people to
undergo expensive tests and treatment so the clinics
can fraudulently bill Medicare for the services, The Miami Herald reports. The FBI, the Florida
health department, and local police are participating
in the investigation.
Some AIDS
activists have claimed that clinic recruiters travel to
homeless shelters and drug treatment programs in the Fort
Lauderdale area looking for HIV-positive people who
are disabled or otherwise eligible for Medicare, then
offer them $100 to $300 to undergo unnecessary
HIV-related treatments, for which Medicare reimburses the
clinics.
According to the
Herald, Medicare became aware of the situation
in 2003 and has since suspended reimbursements to more
than 24 health care providers and has blocked a total of
$214.5 million in Medicare claims. Three people at a
Little Havana clinic in Miami-Dade County have been
arrested so far as a result of the investigation, law
enforcement officials report.