Health care fraud in Texas creates losses of millions of dollars each year. Though many consider it a victimless crime, it is far from being so. It increases health care costs and taxes. Some medical frauds can even endanger your life. This article examines some of the ways these types of crimes are committed.
Unnecessary medical procedures
White-collar crimes are crimes that are considered non-violent in nature. Fraud is supposedly one. But sometimes medical fraud can be harmful. Unfortunately, some medical providers callously place their patients at risk by conducting unnecessary and dangerous procedures out of greed. These unnecessary procedures can have devastating effects on patients, like not being able to conceive or losing full mobility of their bodies.
Fraudulent billing
Fraudulent billing is another example of how the white-collar crime of medical fraud is committed. They include:
- Billing for the same service multiple times
- Billing for services that were never received
- Billing for a more expensive service than the patient actually received
Prescription fraud
Medical professionals are not the only ones who commit these types of fraud. Patients and other individuals are also guilty. There are many ways that prescription fraud is committed. Some include:
- Creating false prescriptions
- Forging prescriptions
- Selling prescriptions or prescribed medicines to others
- Visiting multiple doctors to get controlled substance prescriptions for illegal uses
- Getting prescriptions from medical facilities that engage in unethical prescription practices
Medical fraud has many faces and is committed by all types of people and its consequences are often severe. Even those who are not directly victimized may be impacted by higher health care costs and increased scrutiny of their medical histories.
