Trail of fraud?

By Dana Gentry

Thursday, March 6, 2008 | 5:04 p.m.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto says her office will do whatever it takes to learn whether the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada engaged in fraud with respect to Medicaid insurance and billings.  Cortez-Masto is likely to find much of the work done for her by the Southern Nevada Health District, which has inventoried the center's drug supply through the dates in question. It won't take much to determine if the clinic overbilled for anesthesia if it was actually streching single-dose vials among multiple patients, as the Health District contends.   

Cortez-Masto at first brushed off questions about Nevada's liability in the hepatitis scare, given the fact the state failed to adhere to inspection schedules at the clinic.  Then she rightly noted that licensed professionals should be expected to adhere to accepted practices regardless of whether they are being watched, so the state may have no liability.  

Tomorrow:     State Sen. Warren Hardy talks about the ethics complaint filed against him by labor groups.  Plus,  Jon says the media are sensationalizing every positive case in the health scare.  I disagree.  We'll Face Off Friday.