Becker's Spine Review

58 HEALTHCARE NEWS Louisiana orthopedic surgeon pleads guilty to workers' compensation fraud By Laura Dyrda A Louisiana-based orthopedic surgeon has pleaded guilty to workers com- pensation fraud, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Robert Dale Bernauer Sr., MD, waived a grand jury indictment and pleaded guilty to participating in a fraud scheme between 2011 and 2017, according to a July 30 statement from the Justice Department. Dr. Bernauer admitted to dispensing pain creams and patches to workers' compensation patients in ex- change for 50 percent of the profits collected by an unnamed Arkansas-based company, according to prosecutors. The company billed for Dr. Bernauer's prescriptions and submitted false claims to the workers compensation program covering federal employees as well as private insurers and the co-conspirators violated Louisiana law by knowingly dispensing the topical creams and products from the clinic without the appro- priate license, the Justice Department said. In his guilty plea, Dr. Bernauer said he ignored red flags about the business arrangement and collected about $1 million from the scheme. Dr. Bernauer agreed to pay $664,176.30 directly to the U.S. Labor Department within 30 days as part of his plea agreement.He will also pay $361,096.70, which will be distributed to insurers that experienced loss from the scheme. n Feeling Minnesota: Why it's a top state for practices By Ariana Portalatin M edscape has frequently ranked Minnesota as one of the best states for physicians to practice in its annual list based on a number of factors. What makes the state an attractive place for healthcare workers? Medscape ranks states according to compen- sation, health system performance, happiness in and outside of work, and physician burn- out, among other measures. Minnesota was listed in the top five states for four of the past five years. Minnesota was viewed highly in terms of overall livability and health system perfor- mance. Average compensation for Min- nesota physicians in 2020 was $244,720. Although physicians there reported a high percentage of burnout, Minnesota has been ranked as having the lowest malpractice rates and ranked highly for well-being, pub- lic health and higher education levels. William Nicholson, MD, is a hospitalist at M Health Fairview and vice president of medical affairs for Fairview's St. John's Hospital, Woodwinds Hospital and St. Jo- seph's Campus. Dr. Nicholson said he ad- vocates for the state to be the best not only in his role at Fairview, but as a member of the Minnesota Medical Association and chair of the organization's political action committee. "We try to elect lawmakers who are more in tune with what patients need and what it means to have a great health system, and we've done pretty well at that in Minnesota," Dr. Nicholson said. "Minnesota has a long tradition of politicians and leaders in health- care who get it. ey understand that it's not about winning the argument. It's about get- ting the outcome for the patient that matters at the end of the day." Dr. Nicholson also attributed the success of hospitals and Minnesota's overall livability to the "Minnesota Miracle" of 1971, a series of reforms passed by state officials to improve several key areas, including education, in- frastructure and taxes. is, he said, has had long-term effects still seen today. "As a physician, you see the end pathway of unsafe living, pollution, education [and] so- cioeconomic gaps. It's not just nice and pretty to live in a city that has great public spaces and high-quality schools that are well sup- ported and robust cultural activities," Dr. Nicholson said. "We see it as protective of our patients and something that makes our practices better, not only because it prevents illness, but because when someone gets ill we know that there are resources that will sup- port them." Marc Gorelick, MD, president and CEO of Minneapolis-based Children's Minnesota, said the medical device industry in Minneso- ta is attractive to physicians as well. According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, implantable cardiac pacemakers, mechanical heart valves and implantable infusion pumps are just a few devices to come out of the state, which also ranks highly for the number of device patents per 1 million people. Manu- facturing employment is also four times more concentrated than the national average, with nearly 32,700 employees. "We have a thriving medical device indus- try here in the Twin Cities region that is, I would argue, second to none," Dr. Gorelick said. "at makes it an attractive environ- ment because there is that spirit of always wanting to innovate and drive improve- ments in healthcare. ose are some of the things that make this a place where people can be happy to work in healthcare as physi- cians or other providers." Dr. Gorelick added that two major aspects that attract physicians to practice in Minne- sota are the number of top-performing hos- pitals and the collaboration between hospi- tal systems. "We have a long history of health systems working together to collaboratively address things around overall quality of care, patient safety and, more recently, issues of health eq- uity," Dr. Gorelick said. "at spirit of collab- oration runs deep here and is also an attrac- tive environment for somebody who wants to practice and wants to see the population of the state thrive." n

• Cover