Healthcare Consulting
Richard Baer, MD provides consultant services on a wide variety of healthcare coverage, compliance, audit, coding, and billing services. Dr. Baer served over 25 years in medical director roles for the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC), the Recovery Auditor (RAC), and regional home health and hospice contractors, and most recently for the Unified Program Integrity Contractor (UPIC), Midwest Region. He frequently serves as an expert witness in Medicare related litigation. He's located in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Baer consults on payor coverage of devices, drugs, and other items and services. He also consults on health care compliance, including RAC audits, Medicare appeals work, and state and federal audits. He provides analysis for clinical research billing compliance and development of Medicare coverage analyses for research protocols.
During his tenure with the Medicare program, Dr. Baer authored several hundred Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) and other medical review policy articles and documents for new technologies, pharmaceuticals, and highly utilized services covering millions of Medicare beneficiaries. He has provided medical policy assistance to CMS on national coverage issues, and has been involved in federal investigations and audits of Medicare improper payments and fraud matters for a variety of health care providers. He has frequently served as an expert witness for the Department of Justice in Medicare civil and criminal fraud cases.
Dr. Baer is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine and also holds a masters degree from Northwestern University.
Dr. Baer is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a member of state and national medical societies. He served as President of the Illinois Psychiatric Society, Editor of its newsletter, and Chairman of its Ethics Committee.
Prior to his work for the Medicare Program, Dr. Baer maintained a psychiatric practice in Chicago. In October 2007, Dr. Baer published Switching Time, the true-life story of his treatment of a patient with multiple personality disorder. Published by Crown Books in the US, Switching Time has also been published in the UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Japan, China, and Indonesia. Dr. Baer has appeared on Good Morning America, Fox News in the Morning, Newsweek, Chicago Magazine, and in many other articles published in the US and abroad. Information on Switching Time may be found at <aref="http://www.switchingtime.com">www.switchingtime.com.