Clinic CEO Facing Fraud, Bribery Charges Calls His Treatment ‘Miraculous.’ Doctors, Medicare Beg To Disagree
G. Ford Gilbert's IV insulin infusions for diabetes wounds have been called scams, but still his nationwide system of clinics that offer the procedures has been thriving.
inewsource:
Doctors Debunk Diabetes Treatment As Fraud Charges Hit Clinic Executive
Just imagine: A nonsurgical treatment that helps millions of people with complications from diabetes restore vision, repair damaged kidneys, and reverse heart disease and cognitive decline. A treatment that heals wounds in their legs and feet, repairs damage from stroke, and eliminates a common type of diabetic nerve pain called neuropathy. The nation has a limited supply of healthcare dollars to spend on drugs and services, which is why the government and health plans require scientific evidence of patient benefit. This is especially important for the 30.3 million people in the U.S. with diabetes, whose medical costs in 2012 totaled $245 billion.That’s what lawyer G. Ford Gilbert and his network of Trina Health clinics have been promising with his IV insulin infusions offered through his Sacramento-based company. The Trina CEO calls the procedure “miraculous,” and the first “real change” in treatment for people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes since the 1921 discovery of insulin. (Clark, 4/7)
In other news on the industry and health care costs —
Modern Healthcare:
Why Does The U.S. Spend So Much More On Healthcare? It's The Prices
The sharp difference between the two doctors' experience partly explains why the U.S. healthcare system has much higher administrative costs than Canada and other countries. Those costs, plus much higher prices for medical services and pharmaceuticals and much higher pay for physicians and nurses, were the major reasons the U.S. spent a larger share of GDP on healthcare in 2016 than 10 other wealthy nations, according to a recent study in JAMA. The authors said the huge spending gap—17.8% of GDP in the U.S. versus an average of 10.8% in the other 10 countries—was not primarily driven by the factors that often get the blame. (Meyer, 4/7)
Modern Healthcare:
How Third Parties Harvest Health Data From Providers, Payers And Pharmacies
As the healthcare industry continues to struggle with interoperability, there's one realm in which patient data move remarkably freely: the secondary market. Indeed, hackers aren't the only ones making money off of patient health data. Legitimate companies are cashing in too, including health systems, pharmacies and occasionally electronic health record vendors—and the third parties purchasing the data. These third parties get de-identified health information from a vast array of sources and then sell the information on a secondary market to buyers interested in gleaning strategy insights. (Arndt, 4/7)
Kaiser Health News:
A Tale Of Two CT Scanners — One Richer, One Poorer
Benjamin Hynden, a financial adviser in Fort Myers, Fla., hadn’t been feeling well for a few weeks last fall. He’d had pain and discomfort in his abdomen. In October, he finally made an appointment to see his doctor about it. “It wasn’t severe,” he said. “It was just kind of bothersome. It just kind of annoyed me during the day.”The internist, Dr. John Ardesia, checked him out and referred him for a CT scan at a nearby imaging center. The radiologist didn’t see anything wrong on the images, and Ardesia didn’t recommend any treatment. (Kodjak, 4/9)
