2 Percent of Clinicians Account for 25 percent of Medicare payments.
The long-sought release of Medicare data revealed just how much the program paid individual doctors in 2012. An analysis by The Associated Press found that a tiny group, 344 out of more than 825,000 doctors, received $3 million or more apiece — a threshold that raises eyebrows for the government's own investigators. Overall, about 2 percent of clinicians accounted for one-fourth of payments.
Deputy administrator Jon Blum said Wednesday that Medicare will now take a closer look at doctors whose payments exceed certain levels. Blum told reporters he did not want to reveal those thresholds because that would tip off people trying to game the system.
"We know there is waste in the system, we know there is fraud in the system," he said. "We want the public to help identify spending that doesn't make sense."
The overall top-paid doctor in 2012 was Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, who received $20.8 million.
Last year, Melgen was in the news after revelations that Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., had used the doctor's personal jet for trips to the Dominican Republic. Menendez's relationship with Melgen prompted Senate Ethics Committee and Justice Department investigations. The senator reimbursed the doctor more than $70,000 for plane trips.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/medicare-database-reveals-top-paid-doctors-23250080?page=2
