A hard-hitting, well-documented exposÇ of how physicians milk the Medicaid system. The cost of Medicaid fraud is unknown, but every year about two hundred physicians are suspended from the program because of fraudulent or abusive practices. The authors (all professors at the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine) look at these violations and examine the system that has provided the opportunity for them as well as the backgrounds of doctors who commit them. (Some of the violations are outrageous: bills for therapy while the therapist, a psychiatrist, was having sex with a patient; bills for abortions on nonpregnant women.) Medicaid's fee-for-service system makes fraud easy: By simply checking a box on a form, a doctor (or a billing clerk) can charge for services not performed. Meanwhile, ripping off the government apparently doesn't create guilt feelings: Interviews with 42 physicians reveal that these M.D.s see themselves as the innocent victims of bad laws and bureaucratic interference. And the medical fraternity has taken a relatively benign attitude toward Medicaid fraud, with state regulatory boards rarely revoking licenses of apprehended physicians. The authors offer no quick solution to the problem, noting that tension between government regulation and professional norms of behavior is growing. Finally, they look at the health-care systems of Great Britain, Canada, and Australia, to consider how they cope with fraud, concluding that the problem can be solved only through structural changes in the delivery of health-care services. Exactly what changes are necessary remains unclear. More fuel for the debate on health-care reform, filled with horror stories that can't help but add to the public's growing disillusionment with doctors.
Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-520-07614-1
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Univ. of California
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
