Podiatrist Sues HHS Over Denied Medicare Wound Care Claims

A Chicago-area podiatrist sued federal health officials, alleging they arbitrarily denied compensation for wound care treatments after an administrative law judge ruled the treatments were eligible for reimbursement.

In a complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, plaintiff Ronald Riegelhaupt alleged Medicare’s appeals council, upon request by a private contractor, unlawfully denied payments for skin substitute products used to treat chronic, nonhealing wounds in four diabetic patients.

The treatments were initially rejected for reimbursement by a private contractor tasked with reviewing claims but were later approved after an appeal was made to a ...