Physicians get Medicare payments despite losing their licenses

Cardiologist Robert Graor lost his Ohio license to practice medicine in 1995 and was sentenced to three years in jail, after being convicted of embezzling more than $1 million. He regained his license following his release, but then lost it a second time in 2003. At that time, the Ohio Board of Medicine found Graor had repeatedly misrepresented his credentials over a two-decade period and permanently barred him from practicing medicine.

That didn’t stop Graor from participating in Medicare. In 2012, Medicare paid him $660,005 for treating patients in New Mexico, which gave him a license to practice in 1998. Graor declined to comment.

At least seven physicians who lost a medical license because of misconduct collected a total of $6.5 million from Medicare in 2012, according to federal data. The list includes physicians accused of gross malpractice, sexual assault, and prescription drug law violations. All the physicians notified Medicare of the loss of their licenses, records show. However, in all seven cases identified by Bloomberg, the physicians stripped of a license in one state were allowed to practice in another state and continued to bill Medicare.

Source: Bloomberg News