CCTV Installation Company in Sun City Center, FL

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"I think people need to speak up"

A veteran went into rehab in Sun City Center after a knee replacement and came out with a more than $19,000 bill.

Roger Brown received that bill nearly a year later. When he received that bill, he was then told the $19,000 charge would not be covered by Medicare.

“I think people need to speak up and make things happen instead of just sitting back,” Brown said.

That’s what prompted him to contact the ABC Action News I-Team and share his story.

The 81-year-old disabled Army veteran served our country before fighting to get the customer service and support he needs to combat a bill that took his breath away.

“I got a bill, which I showed you, for $19,453.52,” Brown told I-Team Reporter Kylie McGivern. “I didn't know what to do! My heart just stopped.”

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Brown had an operation for a new knee in February 2024.

“So I came home and I was having a little bit of problems. And my wife, not being a nurse, she was having a problem getting up at night, you know, to help me go to the bathroom,” Brown said.

Brown called his doctor and was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital South in Riverview. On the second day, Brown said a nurse told him that they made an error in coding.

“And she said, we're going to have to keep you two more days for Medicare to kick in,” he said.

Brown then went to Palm Garden in Sun City Center for rehab. He stayed for 30 days. The rehab was covered, but not his stay.

“I’ve never got something like that from Medicare saying you've been rejected, you know, nothing like that,” Brown said.

Then, eight months later, he received a letter from Palm Gardens saying his payment is past due.

“Private payments are due fully by the 10th of each month” Brown said, reading from the letter.

“I said surely this has got to be a scam letter. So I took it to Palm Garden and I handed it to her, it wasn’t signed by anybody, nothing,” Brown said.

He was told he is responsible for the payment.

"Don't pay 'em a dime"

Brown said the woman working at Palm Garden told him, “Medicare will not pay this because of the coding error at the hospital. And we have tried working with the hospital to move dates to take care of this, and they will not work. So you got two parties trying to work and none of them want to work together and it's got into this. And I'm left out on an island, owing $19,000,” Brown said.

Brown said he had no intention of making a private payment. Instead, he made an appointment with his doctor.

“He says, ‘Roger, don't pay ‘em a dime.’”

Then, Brown called the Medicare Fraud Hotline.

“They said this is very important that we take this up the ladder,” Brown said.

"Hotline complaints matter"

That ladder — leads to Dan Hoy, the director of hotline operationsfor the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The hotline accepts tips and complaints about potential fraud, waste and abuse within HHS programs like Medicare.

“I’ve dedicated my life to public service," Hoy told the I-Team. "I find it extremely rewarding taking care of Medicare beneficiaries, they’re some of the most vulnerable population in our country and they deserve quality healthcare, and they deserve not to be taken advantage of."

On average, Hoy said the hotline receives about 140,000 contacts a year.

“It’s my team that reviews them, triages them, and makes sure that they get to the appropriate place for further review by senior agents and senior investigators," Hoy said.

Those contacts include Brown.

“He absolutely did the right thing in reaching out. And I’m so thankful that he was able to get that resolved," Hoy said, when the I-Team shared Brown's story.

“Hotline complaints matter. Over the past five years, it’s led to over 2,200 case being opened by our office of investigation and has brought back almost $500 million in monetary recoveries," Hoy said. “If you see something that doesn’t look right, please report it. As soon as you see something, report it to the OIG hotline.”

Submit a hotline complaint

"Your new balance is a charge of $0"

“I’ve always been a fighter, I said, I'm not going to take this lightly,” Brown told the I-Team. “I’m fighting back. And that's the reason I called you.”

After Brown’s own fighting and a push from the I-Team, contacting Medicare about his case, Brown received a letter.

“You are not liable for these charges,” Brown read from the letter. “Your new balance is a charge of $0.”

“I was elated! I was elated, you know, it’s amazing,” Brown smiled. “Just a little bit what your fine station has done, you know, to do this is just unbelievable. What a relief!”

The I-Team contacted Palm Garden in Sun City Center multiple times to discuss Brown’s bill. No one returned calls or messages.

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ABC Action News reporter Larissa Scott spoke with experts about this year's spring pollen season and how last year's hurricanes may be increasing the amount of pollen now.

By LOIS KINDLE

Circle these dates: the annual Kings Point Follies returns to Veterans Theater, March 14 and 15, and the show is sure to be a back-slappin’, toe-tappin’ good time.

Follies Goes Country U.S.A. will feature themed skits, comedy, choral and solo singing and dancing and be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Run time is about two hours.

Tickets are $14 and are available at the Kings Point Box Office, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Both bleacher and cabaret seating at tables of 10 are available. Feel free to bring along your own drinks and snacks.

“It will definitely be lively, highly entertaining and include lots of opportunities for audience participation,” said Follies director and choreographer, Diane LeFrancois, who introduced themed performances several years ago. Her previous shows included A Blast from the Past, Remembering the ’60s and Life Relationships.

The Kings Point Follies has been performed in the Sun City Center community for four decades. The show gives talented local performers the chance to perform in public, while contributing to an effort that benefits local nonprofits such as the SCC Emergency Squad, LifePath Hospice, Samaritan Services and SCC Security Patrol. Proceeds also help support theater improvements.

This year’s cast of 30 auditioned stars are no exception. It includes members of the chorus comprised of Kings Point, Sun City Center, Freedom Plaza residents – and even MiraBay, plus performers from Sun City Center Jazzmatazz and SCC dance groups. Twenty additional folks work behind the scenes.

The popular variety show also includes about 20 East Bay High School Sound of Time students.

The Kings Point Follies has been sponsored by Vesta Property Services since 2015. Prior to that, the show was sponsored by the Pelican Players.

LeFrancois wants folks to have a good time.

“Come to the theater, forget all your problems and enjoy the show,” she said. “That’s the reason we make it so entertaining. “For us, it’s not who’s performing that’s important, it’s whom we’re performing for,” she added. “If the cast is having a good time, we know the audience is.”

The Kings Point Follies is open to the public. Anyone attending from outside the Kings Point community should go to the visitor side of the entrance gate and let the security staff know you’re there to see the show.

The Kings Point Veterans Theater is at 1900 Clubhouse Drive, Sun City Center.

By LINDA CHION KENNEY

Lisa Tackus has been named 2024 Citizen of the Year at a ceremony in celebration of small business strength and the good deeds of volunteers, including those from the community at large and the Central Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber recognitions were presented Feb. 22 at YMCA Camp Cristina in Riverview.

This is the first time the award has dropped the “Riverview” citizen of the year designation. That matters little in this regard, however, because the chamber, which last year changed its name to “Central Hillsborough County,” had been known for decades as the “Greater Riverview” chamber, which by definition allowed for people outside of Riverview to build a chamber for the greater good.

Tackus follows the 2023 citizen honoree, Eleanor Saunders, executive director of the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO), who, in turn, followed Betty Jo Tompkins, active for decades in community affairs and conservation efforts, including the Hillsborough 100 Conservation Challenge, Hillsborough County 4-H Foundation, Hillsborough County Fair, and Hillsborough Soil and Water Conservation District.

As for Tackus, the 2024 honoree, she sits on the board of the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO), which started in Brandon and has an operation in Riverview, in the old Riverview library on Riverview Drive.

In its mission to bridge the gap between crisis and stability, ECHO addresses the needs of neighbors who are hungry, unemployed, under-employed and at risk because of emergency situations. The decades-old nonprofit, which serves multiple ZIP codes in unincorporated Hillsborough County, provides emergency food, clothing and access to life-stabilizing programs and resources.

Tackus is a “true community champion,” said event emcee Jason Britton, in announcing the award for Tackus, broker-owner of Align Right Realty Riverview. Britton said Tackus, a “band mom” at Riverview High and active in both the central Hillsborough and greater SouthShore chambers of commerce, is “continuously working to strengthen connections between businesses and the communities” in which they operate.

Also issued Feb. 22, at the chamber’s Family Celebration and Awards Day event, were internal awards, including the Margie Watkins Volunteer of the Year Award, which in 2023 went to Daisy Vega of the Freedom to Walk Foundation. She was not in attendance, so Britton announced the 2024 honoree, Joe Nichols, a CHCC Ambassador team member. An account executive of business development at Trax Credit Union in Winthrop, Nichols was recognized in part for his 10 years as a chamber ambassador, including three year’s as the team’s treasurer.

The Joe Eletto Ambassador of the Year Award went to Melissa Canfield; she and her husband Joe are franchisee owners of Grease Monkey, an automotive service center. They formerly owned and operated Hi-Tech Automotive in Brandon. The 2024 award was presented by Lisa Jordan, the 2023 recipient, who has received the honor three times. Jordan is co-owner of Accent American, which specializes in cleaning and disaster restoration.

Chamber Ambassadors are defined as “motivated and respected individuals in the business community who serve as primary liaisons to our members.” The award is named for Eletto, a Veteran and a realtor, who received the award six times. Eletto was instrumental as well in helping to establish the chamber’s Military Affairs Committee. At a chamber luncheon last year, Eletto presented the monthly Veteran recognition to Andrew Graves, who served in the U.S. Navy. At the Feb. 22 awards event, Graves, a security specialist for MORSECOM, received the Shining Star award, presented by the prior recipient, David Lechuga, of Florida Executive Realty, who is a chamber board member.

Lechuga said Graves has been recognized for many efforts, including that “he has attended nearly every ribbon-cutting ceremony since joining [the chamber], many times volunteering to read the proclamation.” A member of the chamber’s Ambassador team, Graves is co-chair as well of the chamber’s Networking at Noon group.

According to chamber records, the Riverview Citizen of the Year award was first issued in 1994, to Kim Otto, followed by Gary Zirkler in 1996. After a six-year hiatus, the award was granted annually, starting with Kay and John Sullivan, longtime community advocates and co-founders of the neotraditional Winthrop community in Riverview. They received the award in 2003.

The only other pair to receive the award in one year, 2009, were Earl Lennard, former superintendent of schools and Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, and his widow, Annabel, who remains active in church and community affairs.

The next year the award went to Robert “Bob” Heilman, then the long-serving principal of Riverview High, followed by Barbara Jones, a popular community officer with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

From 2004 to 2008, citizen of the year honorees were Sandra Murman, Frances Gegenheimer, Ron Proulx, Bill McMullen and John Johnson. From 2012 through 2021, the recipients were Dr. Bryan Thatcher, Tammy Holmberg, Jill Andrew, Joe Eletto, Jennifer Caskey, Kim Tyson, Marie Gilmore, Christian Beiter, Larry Brooks and Clifford “Cliff” Fletcher.