Toni Braxton's Vegas show canceled amid health issues & other

Medicare Anti-Fraud Claims Misleading, According To Confidential OIG Draft Report

2008-09-06T18:16:00.001-07:00

�
CMS' 2006 claims that it had reduced Medicare durable medical equipment role player to around $700 one thousand thousand were based on improper auditing and fell short of the actual amount of money of fraud, according to a gulp report by the HHS Office of Inspector General, the New York Times reports.

According to the report, at issue is the auditing on which CMS based its role player reduction claims. The Times reports that CMS chartered AdvanceMed, a subsidiary of Computer Sciences Corporation, to audit Medicare DME disbursement. The report states that CMS officials told AdvanceMed to neglect an auditing program -- called Comprehensive Error Rate Testing, or CERT -- which is required by law. Under CERT, claims are indiscriminately selected and auditors compare invoices to physicians' records to ensure the disbursal was justified. The report says that AdvanceMed was told by CMS officials to only examine the invoices from DME suppliers.

The report set up that in fiscal year 2006, CMS failed to detect that more than one-third of spending on DME was fraudulent. Using data from other Medicare reports, the undiscovered fraud would be about $2.8 1000000000000, according to the Times. The report found that AdvanceMed auditing revealed 7.5% of Medicare DME claims were not supported by documentation. The OIG report states that AdvanceMed would have discovered that 31.5% of claims were non supported by documentation had it used CERT.

The draft report was obtained by the Times and likely will be released within the next week. OIG might change or cut its findings before the release, according to the Times.

Reaction
CMS has been "lobbying the examiner to play down the report's conclusions," according to the Times. CMS voice Jeff Nelligan said, "Allegations of use of this error rate are ludicrous," adding, "The agency has aggressively targeted fraud and improper payments in the DME program." A CMS spokesperson aforesaid that the fraud figures should get been higher than $700 million, simply agency officials say the $2.8 billion trope is unsupported, the Times reports.

Some lawmakers and congressional staff members say that the account raises concerns about the credibility of other CMS figures. Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) aforesaid, "This is outrageous," adding, "If heads don't roll, you can't change the culture of this organisation." House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) said, "To look better to the public, you cook the books," adding, "This representation is incompetent" (Duhigg, New York Times, 8/21).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for electronic mail delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.

Danger From Earthquakes In New York

2008-08-27T18:18:00.001-07:00

�A cogitation by a group of prominent seismologists suggests that a practice of subtle but active faults makes the risk of earthquakes to the New York City area substantially greater than erstwhile believed. Among other things, they say that the controversial Indian Point nuclear power plants, 24 miles north of the smicity and also in the thick of a large population that is at risk of exposure in case of an accident," says the newspaper. "This is clearly one of the least favorable sites in our cogitation area from an earthquake hazard and risk perspective."

The findings comes at a time when Entergy, the owner of Indian Point, is trying to relicense the deuce operating plants for an additional 20 years - a move being fought by surrounding communities and the New York State Attorney General. Last accrue the lawyer general, alerted to the then-unpublished Lamont data, told a Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel in a filing: "New information developed in the last 20 years disclose a substantially higher likelihood of significant earthquake activity in the vicinity of [Indian Point] that could pass the seism design for the readiness." The state alleges that Entergy has not presented new information on earthquakes past 1979. However, in a little-noticed decision this July 31, the instrument panel rejected the argument on procedural reason. A reservoir at the attorney general's office said the department of State is considering its options.

The characteristics of New York's geology and human footprint may increment the problem. Unlike in California, many New York quakes occur near the surface - in the upper roman mile or so - and they occur not in the broken-up, more ductile formations common where quakes are haunt, but rather in the extremely difficult, rigid rocks underlying Manhattan and practically of the lower Hudson Valley. Such rocks tin build prominent stresses, then suddenly and efficiently send energy over long distances. "It's like putting a hard stone in a vise," aforementioned Seeber. "Nothing happens for a while. Then it goes with a be intimate." Earthquake-resistant building codes were not introduced to New York City until 1995, and are not in effect at all in many other communities. Sinuous skyscrapers and bridges might get by with minimal damage, aforesaid Sykes, simply many elder, unreinforced threesome to six-story brick buildings could crumble.

Art Lerner-Lam, associate director of Lamont for seismology, geology and tectonophysics, pointed out that the region's major highways including the New York State Thruway, commuter and long-distance rail lines, and the main gas, oil and power transmitting lines all cross the parallel active faults, making them in particular vulnerable to being cut. Lerner-Lam, wHO was non involved in the inquiry, said that the identification of the seismic line near Indian Point "is a major substantiation of a feature that bears on the long-term earthquake risk of the northeastern United States." He called for policymakers to develop more information on the region's vulnerability, to claim a closer look at land enjoyment and development, and to make investments to strengthen critical infrastructure.

"This is a landmark study in many ways," aforesaid Lerner-Lam. "It gives us the best possible evidence that we have an earthquake chance here that should be a ingredient in whatever planning determination. It crystallizes the argument that this hazard is not random. There is a anatomical structure to the location and timing of the earthquakes. This enables us to contemplate risk in an entirely different way. And since we are able to do that, we should be required to do that."

NEW YORK EARTHQUAKE BRIEFS AND QUOTES:

Existing U.S. Geological Survey seismic hazard maps show New York City as facing more hazard than many other eastern U.S. areas. Three areas are somewhat more active - northernmost New York State, New Hampshire and South Carolina - but they have a great deal lower populations and fewer structures. The wider forces at make include pressure exerted from continuing expansion of the mid-Atlantic Ridge thousands of miles to the east; slow due west migration of the North American continent; and the area's intricate labyrinth of old faults, sutures and zones of weakness caused by past collisions and rifting.

Due to New York's past history, population concentration and fragile, interdependent infrastructure, a 2001 analysis by the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranks it the 11th almost at-risk U.S. city for earthquake legal injury. Among those ahead: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. Behind: Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Anchorage.

New York's first seismic place was plant up at Fordham University in the 1920s. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, in Palisades, N.Y., has operated stations of the Cross since 1949, and immediately coordinates a network of about 40.

Dozens of small quakes hold been felt in the New York area. A Jan. 17, 2001 magnitude 2.4, centered in the Upper East Side - the first ever detected in Manhattan itself--may have originated on the 125th Street fault. Some people thinking it was an explosion, but no one was harmed.

The most recent felt quake, a magnitude 2.1 on July 28, 2008, was centered near Milford, N.J. Houses shook and a woman at St. Edward's Church said she felt the building rise up under her feet - but no damage was done.

Questions more or less the seismal safety of the Indian Point atomic power plant, which lies amid a metropolitan area of more than 20 million hoi polloi, were embossed in previous scientific written document in 1978 and 1985.

Because the hard rocks under much of New York can build up a lot strain before breakage, researchers believe that modest faults as short as 1 to 10 kilometers can crusade magnitude 5 or 6 quakes.

In general, magnitude 3 quakes occur about 10 times more often than magnitude fours; 100 times more than magnitude fives; and so on. This principle is called the Gutenberg-Richter relationship.

LEAD AUTHOR LYNN SYKES

On the study and earthquake risk: "New York is not as prone to earthquakes as California and Japan, but they do bechance. This study takes a more realistic look at the possible action of larger ones, and why earthquakes concentrate in certain places. To understand risk, you have to multiply fortune by assets, and vulnerability. When you factor that in, our risk is high. Too much aid has been paid to the horizontal surface of jeopardy, and not enough to the risk. Earthquake hazard is about the same today as in 1609 when Henry Hudson sailed up the River. But earthquake hazard is practically, much higher today, since the number of people, assets and their vulnerability are so much greater."

On faults near Indian Point nuclear imbed: "We guess that the intersection of these deuce features organism so close to Indian Point makes it a place of greater endangerment than most other points on the map."

COAUTHOR LEONARDO SEEBER

On estimating hazard: "Most people undervalue the hazard here. Any conservative access will look at geologically similar environments. If you do that, we are similar to Bhuj, India [where a 2001 magnitude 7 quake killed over 15,000 people]. There was no obvious sign of melodic phrase there. There is a mystery here to be solved, and we punter step back and do our homework."

On preparing: "Once you bear that one fault in a crime syndicate is active, you wagerer consider that all the faults in that family could be active. We need to adapt our structures with that in mind."

COAUTHOR JOHN ARMBRUSTER

On past times and future quakes: "You could deliberate whether a magnitude 6 or 7 is possible, but we've already had three order of magnitude fives, so that is very naturalistic. There is no one now alive now to remember that last one, so people tend to forget. And having merely a partial 300-year history, we may not get seen everything we could see. There could be surprises - things larger than we have e'er seen."

The Earth Institute at Columbia University mobilizes the sciences, education and public policy to achieve a sustainable earth. 7% interdisciplinary research among more than 500 scientists in various fields, the Institute is adding to the knowledge necessary for addressing the challenges of the twenty-first century and beyond. With over 2 dozen associated degree curricula and a vibrant company program, the Earth Institute is educating new leadership to suit professionals and scholars in the growing field of sustainable development. We crop alongside governments, businesses, nonprofit organization organizations and individuals to devise innovative strategies to protect the future of our planet. http://www.earth.columbia.edu/

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, a member of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, is one of the world's preeminent research centers seeking profound knowledge about the source, evolution and future of the natural world. More than three hundred research scientists study the planet from its deepest interior to the outer reaches of its ambiance, on every continent and in every ocean. From global mood change to earthquakes, volcanoes, nonrenewable resources, environmental hazards and beyond, Observatory scientists provide a rational footing for the difficult choices facing humanity in the planet's stewardship. http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/

Source: Kevin Krajick

The Earth Institute at Columbia University

More info

Virgin Records sues Jared Leto's band for $30M

2008-08-17T18:23:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES �

Hardcore fans of 30 Seconds to Mars aren't the only ones who desire more of the band's music. Virgin Records has sued the group for $30 zillion, saying it has failed to deliver.

Virgin Records sued the

Amedeo Minghi

2008-08-07T20:26:00.001-07:00

Artist: Amedeo Minghi

   Genre(s):
Pop
   Ethnic
   Folk
   Other
   Soundtrack
   Easy Listening

Discography:


The Platinum Collection CD 3

   Year: 2006
Tracks: 15


The Platinum Collection CD 2

   Year: 2006
Tracks: 16


The Platinum Collection CD 1

   Year: 2006
Tracks: 17


Su Di Me

   Year: 2005
Tracks: 10


L'Altra Faccia Della Luna

   Year: 2003
Tracks: 10


I Ricordi Del Cuore

   Year: 2003
Tracks: 10


Studio Collection

   Year: 2000
Tracks: 29


Minghi Studio Collection - Disc 2

   Year: 1999
Tracks: 14


Minghi Studio Collection - Disc 1

   Year: 1999
Tracks: 15


Decenni

   Year: 1998
Tracks: 10


La Vita Mia

   Year: 1996
Tracks: 12


The Best Of Minghi

   Year:
Tracks: 16


Sotto l'ombrellone

   Year:
Tracks: 10


Raccolta

   Year:
Tracks: 12


Prinzessin Fantaghiro

   Year:
Tracks: 18

High School Musical star rushed to hospital

Disharmonic Orchestra

2008-07-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

Artist: Disharmonic Orchestra

   Genre(s):
Alternative
   Metal
   Metal: Death,Black

Discography:


Ahead

   Year: 2002
Tracks: 13


Pleasuredome

   Year: 1993
Tracks: 13


Not To Be Undimensional Conscious

   Year: 1992
Tracks: 9


Expositiotisprophylaxe

   Year: 1990
Tracks: 16


Expositionsprophhylaxe

   Year: 1990
Tracks: 16


Expositions Prophylaxe

   Year: 1990
Tracks: 23


Not To Be Undimensional Consci

   Year:
Tracks: 9

Hilton's Mum To Play Cruise's Wife In Stiller Comedy

Rollins Band

2008-06-26T05:35:00.001-07:00

Artist: Rollins Band

   Genre(s):
Punk
   Pop: Pop-Rock
   Alternative
   Rock: Pop-Rock

Discography:


Nice

   Year: 2001
Tracks: 14


Get Some - Go Again

   Year: 2000
Tracks: 14


Weight

   Year: 1994
Tracks: 12


The End Of Silence

   Year: 1991
Tracks: 10


Hard Volume (Edition '99)

   Year: 1989
Tracks: 13


Do It

   Year: 1989
Tracks: 15


Life Time (Edition '99)

   Year: 1988
Tracks: 12

Almost at once after the legendary punk/hardcore band Black Flag called it quits in 1987, star singer Henry Rollins issued his first solo releases, Hot Animal Machine and Drive By Shootings (the latter an EP credited to Henrieta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters), featuring longtime ally Chris Haskett on guitar, bassist Bernie Wandel, and drummer Mick Green. But Rollins missed organism part of a true band, hence the formation of the Rollins Band. Similar in flair to the Flag's latter direction (Sabbath-esque riff-heavy hard-core metallic element), the Rollins Band enlisted ex-Gone members Sim Cain (drums) and Andrew Weiss (bass part), while Haskett remained onboard. The grouping cursorily made a name for themselves with their volatile concerts and nonstop touring, as soundman Theo Van Rock sign-language on as well (Rock's contributions were so great that he was much credited as a fifth appendage of the stria).

A steady stream of releases followed: 1988's Life Time (produced by Fugazi's Ian MacKaye), 1989's Do It and Hard Volume, as well as the 1990 live arrange Turned On. 1990 also power saw the release of Fast Food for Thought, a one-off experimental side project by Rollins and Weiss, dubbed Wartime. But the Rollins Band caught their gravid break when Perry Farrell invited them to conjoin his inauguration Lollapalooza fete enlistment in the summer of 1991 (which likewise included such acts of the Apostles as Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Ice T, Siouxse & the Banshees, and headlined Jane's Addiction). Opening up the day's multi-band concert proved to be quite a challenge -- playing in the baking early good afternoon heating plant piece concert-goers were static arriving -- merely the thousands world Health Organization had never even heard of the Rollins Band were at present well aware of the group's gripping, thought-provoking dense sway. The buzz on the band was growth and their adjacent button, 1992's The End of Silence (their first for Imago Records), proven to be their best selling album so far, spawning such popular MTV videos as "Low Self Opinion" and "Watering," while Henry Rollins began coming into court regularly on the network as a guest VJ or on metier programs.

Weiss left the band subsequently the spell in support of End of Silence draped up (later turning up on releases by the Butthole Surfers, Helios Creed, Yoko Ono, Pigface, and Ween) and was replaced by New York City blue funk bassist Melvin Gibbs, recommended by Living Colour's Vernon Reid. The Rollins Band's 1994 release Weight proven to be the biggest score of their career, due to MTV's heavy rotation of the contact Anton Corbijn-directed clip for "Liar" (which power saw Rollins eroding different costumes and, at several points, covered from head to toe in loss paint). A memorable appearance at Woodstock '94 followed shortly thenceforth as the band continued their unrelenting touring schedule. 1997 power saw the release of the band's debut for the massive DreamWorks label, Come in and Burn, simply stagnancy began setting in and Rollins dismissed his bandmates short after the ending of its supporting tour. Haskett by and by played on David Bowie's Hours, as well as continuing a solo calling, patch the others showed up on other artists' records as well. The makeshift live set, Live in Australia 1990, was issued in 1999 as Henry Rollins assembled a whole new Rollins Band batting order, consisting of L.A. rockers Mother Superior. 2000's Get Some Go Again was the fresh lineup's first album unitedly.

Entertainment world

That Was the Week That Was

2008-06-16T06:29:00.001-07:00

Entertainment highlights during the week of June 8-14:

1963: The movie "Cleopatra" made its premiere in New York City. It starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

1965: The Rolling Stones released the single "Satisfaction."

1967: Actor Spencer Tracy died, just weeks after he finished filming "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." He was 67.

1979: Actor John Wayne died of cancer at the age of 72.

1980: Comedian Richard Pryor nearly killed himself while free-basing cocaine at his home in San Fernando Valley, Calif. The cocaine mixture exploded in his face.

1991: Bruce Springsteen married his longtime girlfriend Patti Scialfa in a private ceremony at their Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion. Scialfa had been a backup singer in Springsteen's E Street Band. It was her first marriage; he had been married once before, to model Julianne Phillips.

1993: "What's Love Got to Do With It," the movie based on Tina Turner's autobiography, was released nationwide.

1994: Left Eye of TLC set fire to the mansion belonging to her boyfriend, Atlanta Falcons receiver Andre Rison.

1999: Actress Courtney Cox married actor David Arquette in San Francisco.

2004: Singer Ray Charles died of liver disease at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 73.

2005: Singer Rivers Cuomo of Weezer graduated from Harvard with a degree in English.

2007: The final episode of "The Sopranos" aired on HBO.

See Also

Busta Flex

2008-06-12T21:03:00.001-07:00

Artist: Busta Flex

   Genre(s):
Pop

Discography:

Eclipse

Year:
Tracks: 13

Born Valery FranÃ§ois, rapper Busta Flex honed his skills as a freestyler, development his rhymes and quick attacks well sufficiency to get the attention of French DJ and manufacturer Cut Killer, world Health Organization invited Busta Flex (world Health Organization based his diagnose off one of his idols, Busta Rhymes) to contribute a track to a mixtape he arrange out. In 1997 Flex met Kool Shen of the hip-hop distich NTM, world Health Organization was so impressed by the young MC that he bucked up him to record an entire record album, and helped him get gestural to his label, Warner, in order to do so. Busta Flex's self-titled debut came out in 1998, and immediately brought the hard-spitting rapper attention. Shen then invited him to join his group, IV My People, aboard other French blame stars like Lord Kossity and Zoxea. In 2000 Busta left IV My People in order to acquittance his minute album, Sexe, Violence, Rap and Flooze, followed two eld afterwards by Eclipse. Bit Maitresse, which was produced by Sulee B. Wax, was issued in 2006.

Lionel Richie: I survived life with Nicole

Justice

2008-06-12T20:56:00.003-07:00

Artist: Justice

   Genre(s):
House
   Dance

Discography:


D.A.N.C.E.

   Year: 2007
Tracks: 4


Cross

   Year: 2007
Tracks: 12

The Rumble Strips

2008-06-12T20:56:00.001-07:00

Artist: The Rumble Strips

   Genre(s):
Rock

Discography:

Girls and Weather

Year: 2007
Tracks: 12

Fall Out Boy discuss new album

Dmitri Shostakovich

2008-06-12T20:55:00.001-07:00

Artist: Dmitri Shostakovich

   Genre(s):
Classical

Discography:


L'esecuzione di stepan razin op.119

   Year: 2002
Tracks: 5


Theme of Death, Last two works Op.144 Borodin Qt and Op.147 Yuri Bashmet, Sviatoslav Richter

   Year:
Tracks: 1

Mel B joins up with Janet

Netflix Sells Out Of New Settop Boxes

2008-06-12T20:54:00.001-07:00

Just three weeks after it began offering a $99 settop box that can stream movies directly to subscribers' TV sets, Netflix said that it had sold out its entire supply. The online video renters said that Roku, the Japanese company that makes the device, will need about two weeks to fulfill current orders and eight weeks to begin fulfilling new ones. "They're selling way better than we thought," Netflix spokesperson Amy Bonetti told the Video Business website. She declined to say how many settop boxes had been sold.

See Also

Taylor Swift - The Things They Say 8536

2008-06-12T20:53:00.003-07:00

"My dad is like a kid in a candy store walking around my concerts. He walks around with guitar picks in his pocket and gives them to people. And he sells t-shirts in the t-shirt booth." Country star TAYLOR SWIFT admits her father takes a hands-on approach to her career.

See Also

Forced Reality

2008-06-12T20:53:00.001-07:00

Artist: Forced Reality

   Genre(s):
Other

Discography:

Unheard, Unreleased and Under the Boot

Year: 2004
Tracks: 11

'Zohan' - killing baddies, slaying the ladies

Gwen Stefani - Rossdale Pregnancy Has Been Tough For Stefani

2008-06-12T20:52:00.000-07:00

GWEN STEFANI's rocker husband GAVIN ROSSDALE has admitted the singer suffered throughout the early days of pregnancy with their second child.

The former No Doubt star is expecting her second baby with the former Bush frontman this summer (08) - and Rossdale admits the first trimester was really hard on the star.

He says, "It was difficult at first. Gwen really wasn't well and it was tough for her. She was just really tired and was suffering, which is kind of sad in a way.

"I mean, isn't it enough that nature distorts your body and stretches and squashes your organs?"

However Rossdale insists he is doing his best to help ease the singer's pregnancy woes.

He adds, "I'm just trying to be right there for her and trying to help her through it. It's not easy to be pregnant."

The couple married in 2002 and has a two-year-old son, Kingston.

See Also

Toni Braxton's Vegas show canceled amid health issues

2008-06-12T20:50:00.001-07:00

LAS VEGAS - A Las Vegas hotel has announced that the rest of Toni Braxton’s scheduled shows have been canceled so the singer can focus on her health.
The show, "Toni Braxton: Revealed," at the Flamingo Las Vegas had been dark since the 40-year-old entertainer was hospitalized April 7 with what hotel officials said at the time was a complaint of chest pain. The show had been scheduled to resume June 6.
Harrah’s Entertainment spokeswoman Deanna Petit says she could not comment on the singer’s current medical condition. Braxton has been treated in the past for pericarditis, a viral inflammation of the heart.

Braxton is a six-time Grammy winner for songs including "Un-break My Heart." Her two-year run at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel is scheduled to end in August.