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SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories
SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories (SBCL) was an American-based medical laboratory company that was acquired by Quest Diagnostics in 1999 for $1.3 billion. Controversies In 1989, SBCL had to pay a $1.5 million fine for illegal laboratory referral kickbacks. In 1997, Operation LabScam forced SBCL to agree to pay a $325 million settlement for billing Medicare and Medicaid for tests that physicians were misled into believing were free, violating the 1863 False Claims Act. In 1998, a phlebotomist at an SBCL facility in Palo Alto, California was exposed as reusing needles to save money. As a result, over 3,600 patients had to receive testing and counseling for HIV and hepatitis. The incident led to phlebotomy licensure in California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medical Laboratory
A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are conducted out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of a patient to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical medical laboratories are an example of applied science, as opposed to research laboratory, research laboratories that focus on basic science, such as found in some academia, academic institutions. Medical laboratories vary in size and complexity and so offer a variety of testing services. More comprehensive services can be found in acute-care hospitals and medical centers, where 70% of clinical decisions are based on laboratory testing. Doctors offices and clinics, as well as skilled nursing and Nursing home, long-term care facilities, may have laboratories that provide more basic testing services. Commercial medical laboratories operate as independent businesses and provide testing that is otherwise not provided in other settings due to low test vol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quest Diagnostics
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is an American clinical laboratory. A Fortune 500, ''Fortune'' 500 company, Quest operates in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Brazil. Quest also maintains collaborative agreements with various hospitals and clinics across the globe. As of 2020, the company had approximately 48,000 employees, and it generated more than $7.7 billion in revenue in 2019. The company offers access to diagnostic testing services for cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease, neurological disorders, COVID-19, and employment and court-ordered drug testing. History 1960–1995 Originally founded as Metropolitan Pathology Laboratory, Inc. in 1967 by Paul A. Brown, MD, the clinical laboratory underwent a variety of name changes. In 1969, the company's name changed to MetPath, Inc. with headquarters in Teaneck, New Jersey. By 1982, MetPath was acquired by what was then known as Corning Glass Works and was subsequently renamed Corning Clinical Laborator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kickback (bribery)
A kickback is a form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker in exchange for services rendered. Generally speaking, the remuneration (money, goods, or services handed over) is negotiated ahead of time. The kickback varies from other kinds of bribes in that there is implied collusion between agents of the two parties, rather than one party extorting the bribe from the other.Wrage, Alexandra Addison. ''Bribery and Extortion: Undermining Business, Governments, and Security.'' Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security International, 2007. p. 14. The purpose of the kickback is usually to encourage the other party to cooperate in the scheme.Kranacher, Riley, and Wells, p. 387. The term "kickback" comes from colloquial English language, and describes the way a recipient of illegal gain "kicks back" a portion of it to another person for that person's assistance in obtaining it.Campos, p. 299. Types and methods The most common form of kickback involves a vendor sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation LabScam
Operation LabScam was a United States government investigation in the 1990s by a seven-member taskforce into laboratory billing fraud resulting in $800 million in fines.45 U.S. Att'ys Bull. 31 (1997) Successful LabCorp Settlement a Result of Operation LABSCAM Fraudulent billing practices included labs were billing Medicare and other government healthcare programs for medically unnecessary tests, upcoded tests, tests that were never conducted, and providing kickbacks to physicians. The following labs were implicated: Damon Clinical Laboratories, SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories (SBCL), Corning Life Sciences, Liberty Testing Laboratory. References {{legal-stub Laboratory fraud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a federal health insurance program in the United States for people age 65 or older and younger people with disabilities, including those with End Stage Renal Disease Program, end stage renal disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). It started in 1965 under the Social Security Administration and is now administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Medicare is divided into four parts: A, B, C and D. Part A covers hospital, skilled nursing, and hospice services. Part B covers outpatient services. Part D covers self-administered prescription drugs. Part C is an alternative that allows patients to choose private plans with different benefit structures that provide the same services as Parts A and B, usually with additional benefits. In 2022, Medicare provided health insurance for 65.0 million individuals—more than 57 million people aged 65 and older and about 8 million younger people. According to annual Medicare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medicaid
Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also have wide latitude in determining eligibility and benefits, but the federal government sets baseline standards for state Medicaid programs and provides a significant portion of their funding. States are not required to participate in the program, although all have since 1982. Medicaid was established in 1965, part of the Great Society set of programs during Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Administration, and was significantly expanded by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was passed in 2010. In most states, any member of a household with income up to 138% of the federal Poverty line in the United States#Measures of poverty, poverty line qualifies for Medicaid coverage under the provisions of the ACA. A 201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
False Claims Act Of 1863
The False Claims Act of 1863 (FCA) is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies (typically federal contractors) who defraud governmental programs. It is the federal government's primary litigation tool in combating fraud against the government. The law includes a ''qui tam'' provision that allows people who are not affiliated with the government, called " relators" under the law, to file actions on behalf of the government. This is informally called "whistleblowing", especially when the relator is employed by the organization accused in the suit. Persons filing actions under the Act stand to receive a portion (15–30%, depending on certain factors) of any recovered damages. As of 2024, over 83% of all FCA actions were initiated by whistleblowers. Claims under the law have typically involved government health care programs ( Medicare, Medicaid and TriCare), military, or other government spending programs. FCA actions dominate the list of largest p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phlebotomy
Phlebotomy is the process of making a puncture in a vein, usually in the arm, with a cannula for the purpose of drawing blood. The procedure itself is known as a venipuncture, which is also used for intravenous therapy. A person who performs a phlebotomy is called a phlebotomist, although most doctors, nurses, and other technicians can also carry out a phlebotomy. In contrast, phlebectomy is the removal of a vein. Phlebotomies that are carried out in the treatment of some blood disorders are known as '' therapeutic phlebotomies''. The average volume of whole blood drawn in a therapeutic phlebotomy to an adult is 1 unit (450–500 ml) weekly to once every several months, as needed. Etymology From ( – 'blood vessel, vein' + 'cutting'), via (modern French ). Phlebotomies Phlebotomies are carried out by phlebotomists – people trained to draw blood mostly from veins for clinical or medical testing, transfusions, donations, or research. Blood is collected primarily by per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city of Palo Alto was incorporated in 1894 by the American industrialist Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, when they founded Stanford University in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr. Palo Alto later expanded and now borders East Palo Alto, California, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, California, Mountain View, Los Altos, California, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, California, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, California, Stanford, Portola Valley, California, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park, California, Menlo Park. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 68,572. Palo Alto has one of the highest costs of living in the United States, and its residents are among the most educated in the country. However, it has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite, vomiting, fatigue (medicine), tiredness, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Hepatitis is ''acute (medicine), acute'' if it resolves within six months, and ''chronic condition, chronic'' if it lasts longer than six months. Acute hepatitis can self-limiting (biology), resolve on its own, progress to chronic hepatitis, or (rarely) result in acute liver failure. Chronic hepatitis may progress to scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), liver failure, and liver cancer. Hepatitis is most commonly caused by the virus ''hepatovirus A'', ''hepatitis B virus, B'', ''hepatitis C virus, C'', ''hepatitis D virus, D'', and ''hepatitis E virus, E''. Other Viral hepatitis, viruses can also cause liver inflammation, including cytomegalovirus, Epstein–Barr virus, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phlebotomy Licensure
Phlebotomy licensure is the process by which various regulatory bodies regulate the practice of phlebotomy within its jurisdiction through licensure. In many countries a license is not required, or is obtained through other broader qualifications (such as a medical license), while in others, professional phlebotomists are separately licensed. In most countries, there is not a dedicated a profession to phlebotomy, but it falls under the responsibility of other allied health professions such as nursing. Asia China In China, there are no national phlebotomy regulations, and phlebotomy is primarily performed by nurses, though Chinese nursing education offers limited training in phlebotomy quality control. Europe United Kingdom Phlebotomists need not by licensed in the UK, but training can be provided on-the-job, sometimes with the support of the National Association of Phlebotomists. The skills required may also be monitored through broader monitoring requirements, such as t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an international border with the Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With almost 40million residents across an area of , it is the List of states and territories of the United States by population, largest state by population and List of U.S. states and territories by area, third-largest by area. Prior to European colonization of the Americas, European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization by the Spanish Empire. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following Mexican War of Independence, its successful war for independence, but Mexican Cession, was ceded to the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
