Government rosters of physicians suspended from the Medicare and
Medicaid programs because of fraud and abuse indicate that psychiatrists
form a disproportionately large segment of the total. Of the factors
contributing to this situation, the most notable is that because
psychiatrists charge for time rather than for services, they are more
readily apprehended if they violate the rules. The authors speculate on
whether in fact psychiatrists break the law more than physicians in
other-specialties or whether the statistics are purely artifactual.Abstract Teaser