Mark Erickson

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  FOX 12 OREGON US Attorney to announce settlement in UW... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/30/2004    Last Visited: 5/1/2004  

  Under whistleblower rules, the man who blew the whistle on the university, Mark Erickson, will get more than $7 million.He was a compliance officer for UW Physicians and Children's University Medical Group, which handle billings.

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  Five who made news in the Puget Sound Region in 2004 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/31/2004    Last Visited: 1/1/2005  

  MARK ERICKSON
  
  In 1999, he was a University of Washington medical billing compliance officer who got fed up with his employer's billing practices and sued under the federal False Claims act.
  
  Erickson's whistle-blower suit against the UW sparked a five-year federal investigation into the medical school's Medicare and Medicaid billing.The investigation ended with a settlement in May that includes the largest fine ever paid by a university for overbilling the federal government: $35 million.
  
  Under the federal law, Erickson, 36, was entitled to $7.2 million of the settlement for filing the suit and aiding the government.During the investigation, he wore a concealed listening device, made copies of documents before they were shredded and reviewed billing documents alongside investigators.
  
  UW officials denied Erickson's sweeping accusations of intentionally defrauding the government or shredding documents.They admitted the university overbilled the government but said the vast majority of the mistakes were accidental.Erickson said he felt vindicated by the settlement and was relieved the five-year ordeal was over.Attempts to reach the newly minted millionaire have been unsuccessful.However, at the time of the settlement, Erickson was between jobs and didn't have immediate plans for his portion of the settlement.

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  HeraldNet: UW to pay $35 million in overbilling case - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/1/2004    Last Visited: 5/2/2004  

  The federal government will get more than $25 million under the settlement and Washington state $2 million, while Mark Erickson, the whistle-blower who brought the fraud to light, will receive $7.25 million.
  
  "I feel vindicated," said Erickson, 35, who is between jobs and doesn't know what he's going to do with the money."It's been a battle for five years."
  ...
  Erickson was a compliance officer for UW Physicians and Children's University Medical Group, which handle billings for doctors at UW centers and clinics, when he filed his lawsuit in 1999.
  
  He said Friday that he first began raising questions about the university's medical billing practices in 1993 after he was ordered to help submit backdated and fabricated medical notes with dialysis bills.
  
  In 1999, after he had been promoted to internal auditor, he decided to go to the feds.The breaking point, he said, was being ordered to destroy audits that revealed the fraudulent billing and replace them with sanitized versions.
  
  He helped investigators by wearing a wire and by making copies of documents that were shredded, he said.
  
  University officials denied Friday that any documents were deliberately destroyed and insisted that the vast majority of the mistakes were accidental, the result of a complicated health care system.
  
  Erickson questioned that, noting that the university went to great lengths to prevent the case from going to trial.

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  KDKA: State News - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/30/2004    Last Visited: 5/1/2004  

  Mark Erickson, the whistleblower who brought the fraud to light, will receive $7.25 million, according to Erickson's lawyer.
  ...
  Erickson was a compliance officer for UW Physicians and Children's University Medical Group, which handle billings for doctors at UW centers and clinics, when he filed his lawsuit in 1999.
  
  The lawsuit, which has been under seal for almost five years, details how the university changed its policies to allow doctors to bill the government for more expensive services than they had performed, said a statement released Friday by the Washington, D.C., law firm of Phillips & Cohen, which represented Erickson.

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  KRT Wire | 02/03/2006 | Researchers examine phenomenon... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/3/2006    Last Visited: 2/3/2006  

  "Women have an internal signal of pending motherhood - they are pregnant," said Mark Erickson, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington School of Medicine."Men do not."
  
  If there are changes that prepare men for fatherhood, presumably they are caused by some signal from the mother, Erickson said.
  
  One possibility is that the changes are sparked by pheromones, aromatic chemicals secreted by a variety of animals, possibly including humans, that are sensed by other animals in the species and may lead to behavioral or physiological changes.
  
  Of course, another explanation is that the weight gain is social.Men may simply be exercising less and eating more because their wives are.
  
  "Next to nothing is known about this process, but it could be of great importance to the well being of the offspring," Erickson said."This is particularly relevant because of the alarming rate of child abuse and neglect."
  
  Another area that needs to be studied, Erickson said, is what happens when the signal from the female is disrupted, such as when a couple is separated?"Might this also disrupt the biology of paternity?"he said.
  
  Erickson said the findings involving the UW marmosets and tamarins are one piece of a much larger puzzle that must be explored.

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  KTVB.COM | Idaho News Weather & Sports | Regional News - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/30/2004    Last Visited: 5/1/2004  

  The federal government will get more than $25 million under the settlement and Washington state $2 million, while Mark Erickson, the whistleblower who brought the fraud to light, will receive $7.25 million, according to Erickson's lawyer.
  
  The fraud settlement - the largest against a teaching hospital since the University of Pennsylvania agreed to pay $30 million in 1995 - ends a five-year investigation that won guilty pleas from two prominent doctors.Restitution paid by those two doctors is included in the $35 million total.
  
  Erickson was a compliance officer for UW Physicians and Children's University Medical Group, which handle billings for doctors at UW centers and clinics, when he filed his lawsuit in 1999.
  
  The U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle and the University of Washington scheduled news conferences Friday to discuss the matter.
  
  The lawsuit, which has been under seal for almost five years, details how the university changed its policies to allow doctors to bill the government for more expensive services than they had performed, said a statement released Friday by the Washington, D.C., law firm of Phillips & Cohen, which represented Erickson.

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  NWCN.com | News for NW Cable News | NWCN Business - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/30/2004    Last Visited: 5/1/2004  

  The federal government will get more than $25 million under the settlement and Washington state $2 million, while Mark Erickson, the whistleblower who brought the fraud to light, will receive $7.25 million, according to Erickson's lawyer.
  
  The fraud settlement - the largest against a teaching hospital since the University of Pennsylvania agreed to pay $30 million in 1995 - ends a five-year investigation that won guilty pleas from two prominent doctors.Restitution paid by those two doctors is included in the $35 million total.
  
  Erickson was a compliance officer for UW Physicians and Children's University Medical Group, which handle billings for doctors at UW centers and clinics, when he filed his lawsuit in 1999.
  
  The U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle and the University of Washington scheduled news conferences Friday to discuss the matter.
  
  The lawsuit, which has been under seal for almost five years, details how the university changed its policies to allow doctors to bill the government for more expensive services than they had performed, said a statement released Friday by the Washington, D.C., law firm of Phillips & Cohen, which represented Erickson.
  
  Click here for more details from KING5.com.

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  Panel to study billing scandal - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/7/2004    Last Visited: 8/7/2004  

  One of those employees, Mark Erickson, sparked the federal investigation in 1999 when his concerns about billing practices were rebuffed.
  
  Erickson was then a compliance officer for UW Physicians and Children's University Medical Group, which handle billings for doctors at UW centers and clinics.He said in May that he began raising questions about the university's medical-billing practices in 1993.

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  SBN Online: Source for local Cleveland business news,... - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 1/30/2004  

  The lawsuit was filed under seal by Mark Erickson, a former fees coordinator, compliance officer, and auditor for UW Physicians and Children's University Medical Group, which handle billing for doctors at the University of Washington Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, Children's Hospital and various clinics.

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  Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Timeline of investigation... - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 4/30/2004  

  May 1991 - Mark Erickson begins working for University of Washington Physicians Group.
  
  1993 - Erickson begins raising concerns about billing practices.
  
  March 1999 - Erickson promoted to internal auditor for Children's University Medical Group, part of UW Physicians.
  
  August 1999 - Erickson files whistleblower lawsuit alleging overbilling of Medicare and Medicaid by university doctors.
  
  November 1999 - Acting on information in the lawsuit as well as wiretaps and documents provided by Erickson, federal agents seize and subpoena records from university medical practices.

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