Paying for behavioral health services; $110M in health care fraud; antidote for snakebites – Morning Medical Update

Behavioral health care services

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has finalized 2024 payment to expand access to behavioral health care services. How exactly will that work? The Commonwealth Fund has this summary.

Feds charge telemedicine company for fraud

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced Steven Richardson, 40, of Parkland, Florida, was charged and will plead guilty to a $110 million telemedicine fraud scheme involving unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME). Richardson used his companies to create business relationships with telemarketing companies to generate orders for DME for Medicare beneficiaries.

Snakebite solution

Did you know poisonous snake bites are estimated cause up to 138,000 deaths a year? The problem is worst in developing nations in sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia. It’s possible to create antidotes from animal-derived antibodies, but those can be problematic too. Now researchers are getting closer to a universal antibody solution that offers protection against the venom of cobras, king cobras, kraits and black mambas, according to this study and accompanying news release.