News From Around the Web
> Vivian Yusuf, charged in a nearly $10 million Medicare medical supply scam, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, The Republic reported. Yusuf was arrested in June at a Houston airport after being a fugitive since 2011. Article
> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will launch a pilot study in three states requiring pre-certification of claims by ambulance providers, Nephrology News reported. Article
> A Medicaid fraud settlement has become a campaign issue in the Illinois governor's race, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Democrat Pat Quinn released an ad focused on a $13 million fraud settlement with a company owned by Republican opponent Bruce Rauner's former firm. Article
> Patient recruiters in Florida were sentenced to prison for participating in a $20 million home care fraud involving Trust Care Health Services Inc., the Department of Justice announced. Announcement
Healthcare News
> New research finds collaboration between physicians and pharmacists can reduce asthma hospitalizations, Pharmacy Times reports. Article
> More people in New York and New Jersey die in the hospital because the region has more than enough beds to offer, leading to more tests, treatments and prescriptions and people dying in the intensive care unit on a feeding tube or a ventilator, Kaiser Health News, National Public Radio and WNYC reported. Article
Health Insurer News
The future of the health insurance industry is, in many ways, a mystery. Insurers won't cease to exist, but they'll likely be providing health insurance in a different way than they do now, writes Wendell Potter, a senior analyst at The Center for Public Integrity. Article
Reference pricing has been touted as a way to create provider competition in healthcare, but a recent Federal Trade Commission article argued this isn't the case. Article
And finally…Beware of door-to-door fortune tellers. Article