Senate Hearing Findings on Conomikes Seminars ‘Misleading,’ Conomikes Says

In a USA Today letter to the editor, George Conomikes responds to allegations made at a Senate Finance Committee hearing last week that his consulting firm, Conomikes Associates Inc., sponsored seminars that encouraged physicians to increase income by overcharging government and private insurers for services. Conomikes calls the findings "inaccurate and misleading" (Conomikes, USA Today, 7/3). Last week, USA Today reported that General Accounting Office investigators had secretly audiotaped certain seminars in which consultants offered tips on how to bill insurers for care "that was either not provided or was administered at lower cost by assistants"; how to restrict appointment times for low-income and elderly patients; and how to "[i]gnore federal rules" that require physicians to report Medicaid or Medicare overpayments (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/27). Conomikes says that "selective editing ... took statements out of context, including case examples illustrating what some practices have done in certain situations." Hoping to "clarif[y] some of the misleading reports of the Senate Finance Committee hearing," Conomikes writes:

• "We would never suggest to physicians that [they] consider filing claims for services not rendered. That is plainly illegal and would get the practice into trouble."
• "It was suggested that claims submitted by non-physicians are illegal. In fact, claims can be submitted for services rendered solely by registered nurses, physician assistants and nurse practitioners."
• "We don't tell doctors to avoid seeing Medicaid patients, but we do point out, by case study, how a practice survived by rationing its Medicaid patient load."
• "We recommend that practices do self-audits. ... Some practices take the position that they will ignore resubmitting claims that they may have overcoded, out of concern that they may raise red flags, which could lead to a full-blown Medicare audit. We do not recommend this action" (USA Today, 7/3).