West Virginia, lawyer Paul Harris is learning the hard way that you do not mess with Uncle Sam's efforts to get reimbursement of Medicare payments dependent.
Harris client was injured by a defective ladder. Harris sued the retailer from the ladder and settled for $ 25,000. Medical expenses for the injury analysis was paid by Medicare to change in the amount of $ 22,000 and. Medicare was never reimbursed by Harris or its clients.
The Centers for Medicare and MedicaidServices (CMS) launched enforcement, namely, a federal court action against Attorney Harris to receive reimbursement. The case is up in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. Mr. Harris presented a request for dismissal on the grounds that as a lawyer for the Medicare beneficiary, he is not obliged to protect the interest of Medicare and is not liable for failing to reimburse Medicare. The judge scheduled to accept the case.
U.S. District Court JudgeFrederick Stamp, Jr., Harris refused to move "on 13 November 2008. In his written opinion decided Stamp judge that an attorney be held individually liable under 42 USC § 1395y (b) (2) if he or she will distribute settlement funds can not satisfy an existing Medicare reimbursement claims.
The court cited with approval the language of 42 CFR Section 411.24 (g), which provides for Medicare, that any entity that receives payment from a primary contractor, including the beneficiaries can recover amedical provider, a supplier, a physician, a state agency, a private insurer or lawyer. Mr. Harris is a lawyer. When the supervisor sent to retailers (the primary to a client as soon as they paid the settlement) to examine the accounts, Mr. Harris and distributes the proceeds were to check that Mr. Harris was an attorney fee. He thus became an entity, the payment received from a primary payer, making him personally liable to Medicare.
The moral of the story: Even the small casesrequire care in handling Medicare liens and attorneys can not leave it up to someone else deal with the issue.
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