News From Around the Web:
> Miami has become a Medicare fraud hotbed since almost 1,500 of its residents are listed on the federal government's database of excluded providers, The Star Telegram reported. Article
> High payouts for medical records on the black market led the FBI to issue alerts to the healthcare sector about the high risk of cyberattacks against systems and medical devices, Insurance & Financial Advisor reported. Article
> Florida physician Ona Colasante was charged with more than 200 counts of healthcare fraud for multiple schemes, according to The Herald Tribune. She claimed payment for substance abuse counseling, smoking cessation and other treatments not rendered. She also allegedly billed for full-price prescription drugs but dispensed cheaper ones not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Article
> St. Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Mo., will pay $3.5 million and attorneys' fees after it refused to accept health insurance from hundreds of patients injured in car accidents in lieu of trying to collect potentially higher payouts from automobile insurers. Article
Health IT News:
> A growing elderly population and the increasing portability of medical equipment will help the global patient monitoring devices market to surpass $22 billion by 2018, according to a report published this month by MarketsandMarkets. Article
> While a growing number of health providers are turning to data analytics to help improve care and lower costs at their facilities, the use of analytics in healthcare remains relatively immature, according to a recent survey from HIMSS Analytics. Article
And Finally... Nordstrom shopping spree ends in a fraud arrest. Article