Dem Senator makes bank on Medicare payments

BANGOR – A Democratic state senators medical practice pulled in $1.8 million in Medicare reimbursements in 2012, according to provider payment data recently released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

Sen. Geoffrey Gratwick (D-Penobscot) and his partner Sidney Block, both rheumatologists, billed Medicare for $795,261 and $1,017,461, respectively, in 2012.

The most common treatment Block and Gratwick provided at their Bangor office was Abatacept (a.k.a. Orencia) injections for rheumatoid arthritis.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid data, Gratwick administered 15,675 billable units of Abatacept on 21 patients, netting his practice $250,800 in Medicare reimbursements. Meanwhile, Block provided 17 patients with 13,475 billable units of Abatacept for total reimbursements worth $229,075.

Block and Gratwick’s second most common Medicare-funded treatment, according to CMS data, was Inliximab (a.k.a. Remicade), another fusion injection treatment for RA.

According to the data, Gratwick administered 8,020 billable units to 22 patients, while Block delivered 9,530. Medicare reimbursed Gratwick $47 dollars and Block $50 dollars, for every Infliximab treatment, for a 2012 total of $376,940 and $476,500.

All told, Block and Gratwick pulled down $1,333,315 on injections designed to alleviate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.

The biggest Medicare biller in Maine, though, was Robert Sylvester, a Lewiston-area rheumatologist who collected $2,379,244 in 2012.

Gratwick is the Senate Chair of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee.