In August 2004, I filed a written complaint against Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Region 5 Medicare managed care manager, Bette Weisberg, and her crew. In the complaint I stated that CMS had allowed Advocate to violate numerous Medicare managed care regulations.
A month later, I received a letter from HHS/OIG that acknowledged my letter, but it stated that my complaint was against Advocate. I called the sender, Jaishiri Mehta, and advised her of the wrongdoing that CMS had committed. I told her that I would send her the corroborating documents, and that I wanted to discuss them with her. She agreed discussing them with me.
Mehta sent me a September 29, 2004 email message in which she acknowledged receiving the documents. In this email she states that she will contact me after she had a chance to look at them. That was the last that I heard from her until she sent me another email (both emails are available via the link) in response to my subsequent phone calls. In that email she contends that she cannot speak with me.
In December 2004, I received a letter from OIG "special investigator" Scott Vantrease in Chicago. The letter stated that their investigation had concluded, and that CMS personnel had done nothing wrong. I called Vantrease, and told him that there could not have been much of an investigation because I was never questioned, nor did I have an opportunity to discuss the documents with anybody.
Vantrease told me that he had more important things to do than deal with my complaint. However, he said that if I called him after the holiday, he might be able to put me in contact with somebody who might be able to resolve the matter.
On December 30, 2004, there was a message on my machine from a "special agent from Homeland Security, regarding a Health and Human Services complaint". The next day, nobody answered the phone at Homeland Security. I was not able to get a hold of the "special agent" until January 10, 2005. During that phone call, the "special agent" threatened me with "prosecution" if I did not "cease and desist" from communicating with HHS/CMS. I asked him what I had done to warrant such a threat, but he said that it was not his job to tell me. I asked him what I would be prosecuted for, and he said that he would "find something". Then he hung up on me.
It turned out that he was an employee of Federal Protective Services, which is under Homeland Security. After that one call, I never heard any more from him.
Somebody at HHS/CMS had used the Federal police force to try and scare me off from attempting to obtain the rights of my parents. I didn't get worried about the call until it became apparent that nobody that I told about it thought that it was a big deal. That is really scary.
A month later, I received a letter from HHS/OIG that acknowledged my letter, but it stated that my complaint was against Advocate. I called the sender, Jaishiri Mehta, and advised her of the wrongdoing that CMS had committed. I told her that I would send her the corroborating documents, and that I wanted to discuss them with her. She agreed discussing them with me.
Mehta sent me a September 29, 2004 email message in which she acknowledged receiving the documents. In this email she states that she will contact me after she had a chance to look at them. That was the last that I heard from her until she sent me another email (both emails are available via the link) in response to my subsequent phone calls. In that email she contends that she cannot speak with me.
In December 2004, I received a letter from OIG "special investigator" Scott Vantrease in Chicago. The letter stated that their investigation had concluded, and that CMS personnel had done nothing wrong. I called Vantrease, and told him that there could not have been much of an investigation because I was never questioned, nor did I have an opportunity to discuss the documents with anybody.
Vantrease told me that he had more important things to do than deal with my complaint. However, he said that if I called him after the holiday, he might be able to put me in contact with somebody who might be able to resolve the matter.
On December 30, 2004, there was a message on my machine from a "special agent from Homeland Security, regarding a Health and Human Services complaint". The next day, nobody answered the phone at Homeland Security. I was not able to get a hold of the "special agent" until January 10, 2005. During that phone call, the "special agent" threatened me with "prosecution" if I did not "cease and desist" from communicating with HHS/CMS. I asked him what I had done to warrant such a threat, but he said that it was not his job to tell me. I asked him what I would be prosecuted for, and he said that he would "find something". Then he hung up on me.
It turned out that he was an employee of Federal Protective Services, which is under Homeland Security. After that one call, I never heard any more from him.
Somebody at HHS/CMS had used the Federal police force to try and scare me off from attempting to obtain the rights of my parents. I didn't get worried about the call until it became apparent that nobody that I told about it thought that it was a big deal. That is really scary.
