National Report

Congressional investigators are targeting a cottage industry suspected of coaching doctors to boost income by overcharging insurers, according to a recent exposé by USA Today. "I think it‘s outrageous that we would have people going around and showing health care providers how to bill for services that were never rendered," said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who requested the undercover operation by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. USA Today claimed that it had been provided with secret audiotapes of consultants at three seminars advising doctors on techniques to circumvent health insurance regulations. The tapes were later presented at a Senate Finance Committee hearing. Among other techniques, instructors on the tapes were heard advising doctors how to bill insurers for care that was either not provided or was administered at lower cost by assistants.