Care Level's Victims

    Saturday, December 15, 2007, 04:05 PM [General]

    We would like to make the public aware about another corporation defrauding Medicare. Surprise, surprise. They will have left many lives affected by their greed. And I don't mean to sound like a sap, but right before the holidays?? That's just wrong in so many ways. Not to mention this IS respiratory season and how many of Medicare's beneficiaries who are affected by this fiasco will call their PVP (Personal Visiting Physician) and will reach one of the nurses who stayed behind telling them they no longer have a doctor nor a nurse! They will be directed to do what Medicare has forked out millions of dollars to prevent! They'll be told, "Go to the ER or call 911" Let me give a quick synopsis of what has fueled this blog and the need to gain as much support in our quest for justice.
    We were laid off unexpectantly on Friday December 14, 2007 because our employer bilked millions of dollars from Medicare since October 2005 and the employees and Medicare beneficiaries paid the price for their wrong doing. Medicare provided funding to our company for physicians to make house calls for high cost beneficiaries. Care Level opened many offices throughout California, Florida, Texas and Arizona. Medicare paid Care Level to have a physician available to these beneficiaries 24/7. Medicare pays Care Level a fee every month for every single beneficiary to be managed by a care level physician. We had more than 6,000 beneficiaries just in California alone who had never been seen by a physician and Care Level still took payment despite this. Medicare performed an audit and found that these beneficiaries were never touched by a physician (they were only managed telephonically by a licensed nurse), therefore, care level will have to pay Medicare back for taking false payments. Beneficiaries have been billed as well. Care Level laid off more than 2/3 of their staff and have left thousands of enrolled beneficiaries without care. The beneficiaries were not notified that they will no longer be receiving services. This has and will affect thousands of Medicare recipients in 4 states, various vendors that will not be paid for services rendered and employees in 4 states. Care Level is pretty much shutting their doors on a commitment they made. It may not be today, but eventually it will happen. Yes, it's a demonstration project. Does that protect you from medical negligence? The demo has not ended yet. Is it okay to just turn your back on patients because they live in a "red zone" area. Some of these zones still had full time physicians servicing these so called red zone areas. So it's okay to pull the plug on them because they made the decision to live in a rural area? Then why bring them into this demo to begin with? There's no excuse. Care Level is negligent. Not only to their patients but also to their committed employees who believed in a mission and worked their butts off to fulfill that mission. So how do they reward these dedicated employees? They lay em off without any notice and doesn't even have the audacity to answer employees legitimate questions and concerns. Was there a severance for these dedicated employees who have mortgages, rent, tuition due this month?? Nope! Not even a little for some presents? Nope! Nada! That's what Care Level thinks about their staff. Nice! What about the sole providers who's family will no longer have health coverage? Oh yes, there's COBRA. Well, who can afford COBRA on $1800 a month on unemployment and still have enough to live? Not to mention the co-pay and deductibles for COBRA! Geez! And how about those employees who won't even get the max of $1800 a month from unemployment. And how about them violating labor laws by not giving a lot of the employees their final paycheck? I am one of those that did not receive it. They are supposed to have check in hand when they terminate employment. Is there anything that can be done through the media to blow the whistle on this? I hope so! This is going to devastate so many people.

    4.3 (2 Ratings)
  • Ken (Main Profile), 50
    Ken
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  • Andy, 50
    Andy

  • Jim, 42
    Jim

  • Rachael, 27
    Rachael


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    Dear Mary,

    I’m taking some time today to personally welcome each of our members, regardless of whether you are new or have been around for a while. You can learn a bit about me from my profile. I started this site, which went “live” on 9/24/07, and try to be as active as I can be. Please comment me back, and let me know how you like it. We have some great members, and a lot of fun in the forums. Please check out our contests on our home page, and get involved. The more active you are, the more fun you'll have, and the more vibrant our site will be. You can communicate directly with other members, contribute to our blog and forums, add pictures, add videos, and join groups. Let me know if you need any help with anything. You can message me, and/or call me. My phone # is on my profile.

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    Ken


    Ken (Main Profile)
    January 12, 2008
    07:50 AM CST

    I hope you had a happy holiday and best wishes for the new year!

    Andy
    December 28, 2007
    11:51 AM CST

    We're new and small, but we have some great people here. We hope you'll be an active participant. Have a great day.

    Ken (Main Profile)
    December 18, 2007
    07:19 AM CST