Posted on: Friday, April 15, 2005

Settlement reached over unlicensed medical aide

Associated Press

The state has settled a false Medicaid claim with Kaiser Permanente for $900,000 over a physician's assistant who worked for the healthcare company for more than 17 years without a license, the attorney general's office said yesterday.

The settlement was based on a claim filed by another employee, who sued in federal court under state and federal false claim acts after reporting the unlicensed worker, and will receive $225,000 of the settlement, officials said.

The federal government also reached a settlement for false Medicare claims, bringing the total to about $2 million, said Christopher D.W. Young, a deputy attorney general.

The state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit found during an investigation that the unidentified employee worked in the Kaiser dermatology department, treating patients, without a license between May 16, 1984, and Dec. 31, 2001.

The person in question had skills in dermatology but did not have the background to meet the requirements for physician's assistant, he said.

"A physician's assistant does almost everything that a physician does except they are supposed to be working under the supervision of a physician," Young said.

A Kaiser spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.