Jim Brencic did the honors and announced that this thought had particularly profound meaning for the members of the Lamorinda Sunrise club. "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." Ralph Waldo Emerson
A RED LETTER DAY. NO BIRTHDAYS OR ANNIVERSARIES!
VISITORS AND VISITING ROTARIANS
Robbie Kunkel - 4th visit for the Professor
Caroline Kunkel - Robbie's daughter
Katie Rose - Becky's sister
Steve Lack - Speaker and Past President, Pleasant Hill Rotary
MOMENT WITH AYMERIC One thing about Aymeric, he sure gets around. This time he came prepared with a slide show of his Lake Tahoe District Conference trip. He managed to surround
himself with numerous other exchange students in various Hard Rock Caf�, hot tub and fun-in-the-snow poses. He also visited a pumpkin patch somewhere. Does he really have time for school with all this other stuff going on?
BECKY WARE IS ALIVE AND WELL IN ARGENTINA Steve Ware reported on daughter Becky who is too busy to write home or call. Busy having fun that is with a recent trip to the San Martin resort in the Andes. She is moving to another family in
December and has become fast friends with another exchange student from Vermont. King Fazel mumbled something about an email letter from Becky which he promised to circulate to members sometime at an unannounced time in the future.
MAJOR FUND RAISER SHAPING UP
Krysten Laine distributed a detailed Car Show Budget for all to see. The bottom line: event costs of $14,000 to $17,000 should result in potential revenue of $47,500 for an estimated profit of "approximately" $30,026.77. The ever alert board of directors will
undoubtedly request Krysten to be a bit more precise in her estimating. The good news is that a very significant part of the proceeds will come from OPM's (other people's money). This will be a pleasant departure from past auctions which were primarily funded by club members. A date in the late spring or early summer time frame is being developed. Krysten has worked hard on this project and is receiving positive backing to bring it to fruition.
THE BRAD DAVIS SHOW
First he rose to announce for the umpty-umpth time the Garden
Park Apartments pumpkin carving event on Wednesday, October 28, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Members with kids and grand kids are encouraged to participate in this very worthwhile event.
Contact Brad if you need directions to the apartments or further information. Pumpkins and carving tools are provided. Rest assured Brad will provide a thorough review of the actual event in time for the next newsletter.
He no sooner sat down than he was up again, this time to lay claim to the identity of the mystery Rotarian. I say this first, before the clues, because he was so anxious to explain, that no time was left for anyone to guess who it might be.
The first clue: His father played junior college basketball with Jackie Robinson.
The second clue: He went back to college at age 38.
The third clue: He has three grandchildren ages 4, 3 and 1�.
His long explanation for clue # 1 was that this statement is true.
Clue # 2: Brad announced to his family that he was quitting his longstanding job with the telephone company at age 38 in order to go back to college to make a serious career change. His family responded with logical questions such as, "Does this mean we will not take a vacation?" or "Won't I be able to get a car?" Encouraged by these positive responses he worked his way through several school options and ended up at JFK as a launching point. The rest is history.
Clue # 3. He does have three grandchildren and is planning a trip to Minneapolis to see some of them.
This was a blast from the Pat Flaharty past. King John doesn't miss a trick!
IS IT TIME FOR THE CHRISTMAS PARTY ALREADY?
Jim Brencic thinks so. He is working on the arrangements for the party to occur during the first week of December. He promises a catered meal, Santa Claus as a featured guest, and there will be as much carol singing as this club can blunder its way through.
DRESS CODE ALERT!!!
Halloween costumes are the order of the day for this Friday's meeting. Joanne Luscher proposed and King John fell for it.
GEORGE CHAFFEY'S TURN IN THE BARREL
King John held up the registration paper work for George from the recent District conference. Former Governor Chaffey was AWOL from the event. He undoubtedly had a really good excuse but was wise enough to hold his tongue. King John told him he could have the packet for $10, or not take it for $20. George went all in on the offer.
TGITLFOTM
This Friday the soiree will be at the Chaffey estate. George will be e-mailing to the membership independently to be sure the right message is delivered. We leave that in his capable hands.
THE PROGRAM
Steven Lack, Ph.D., and CFE is a special agent of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office of the
Inspector General (OIG), Office of Investigations (OI). Since 1985 Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Lack has investigated allegations of Medicare fraud. He has been the case agent on the largest criminal and civil Medicare fraud cases prosecuted in the Northern and Eastern Districts of California, with monies recovered in the past five years exceeding $350 million.
ASAC Lack has been on the faculty of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE) and instructs new OI agents on how to conduct investigations. Among the honors he has received is being named the Special Agent of the Year by the Western Region Council and the OIG Bronze award as agent of the year.
Steve is also a Past President of the Pleasant Hill Rotary Club and has functioned as an Assistant District Governor. His offices are in Concord.
To qualify as an agent one must have a college degree, be under the age of 37, and have previous law enforcement experience. New agents are sent to a three month training course in Georgia where all government agents, except the FBI, receive their training. Agents are armed, because major fraud perpetrators are from groups such as the Russian "mafia" who, in Steve's words, "play rough."
How big is Medicare fraud? According to Steve, it is in excess of $40 billion annually, or roughly 10% of the $400+ billion cost of Medicare. It is easy to defraud Medicare and difficult to prove fraud. Many fraud convictions are actually obtained by proving that the accused lied, rather than the actual fraud.
Most Medicare fraud comes from bogus home-health care, hospital supply companies and "non-functioning" pharmacies. It is easy to set up these fronts and to receive payments for non-existent transactions because of the circumstances and laws regarding Medicare payments. The law requires that payments be processed and checks submitted within 15 to 30 days from the time they are submitted to the government.
All that is needed to go into the Medicare fraud business is a business address, invoice forms, recent patient list (obtainable for about $10 per name), access to Medicare codes and you're ready to cash in. There is a whole industry of people who provide patient lists. Items most fraudulently billed for include prostheses, wheel chairs, beds, and prescription drugs.
It is very difficult to catch fraud due to the short turn-around in payment time and lack of investigative agents. Steve gave several examples of successful apprehension and prosecution of some big time perpetrators. He also commented on the Johnson & Johnson case regarding defective glucose monitors which resulted in large settlements with the government and accompanying class actions suits ($100 million).
Steve suggested that a fund raiser for Rotary would consist of discovering fraud being committed, and then be a whistle blower to the tune of a 20% finder's fee leading to arrest and conviction in a fraud case. He also says that any company or person who commits Medicare fraud should NEVER fire an employee who knows about the fraud. See above finder's fee.
This is a very serious problem which has occurred, according to the 60 Minutes program Sunday night, because of lack of attention to the problem. $200 million has recently been approved by the administration for fighting Medicare fraud. Also, the television program put the level of annual fraud today at over $60 billion.
Thanks Steve for the sobering, but nevertheless entertaining insight into your fascinating job.
CALENDAR