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PRESCRIPTION FOR PROFIT

Name: PRESCRIPTION FOR PROFIT
Author: Paul Jesilow
ISBN: 0-520-07614-1

HOW DOCTORS DEFRAUD MEDICAID

by Paul Jesilow & Henry N. Pontell & Gilbert Geis ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1993

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.