Fight against health care fraud recovers $4.1B, $7.10 for every $1 of expenditures - USA Today
In 2009 the Obama administration created Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Teams ([font color="red"]HEAT[/font]) - to focus enforcement efforts on locales where Healthcare fraud is more prevalent. This approach, along with increased funding has resulted in increased success cracking down on Healthcare fraud. This can be measured in terms of increased recoveries of fraud money and increased jail time for offenders.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-02-14/sebelius-holder-announce-health-care-fraud-money/53097474/1
Between 2009 and 2011, the federal government has collected $7.20 for every dollar spent on fighting fraud, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general. That's a jump from the $5.10 for every dollar spent between 1997 and 2008, records show.
"It demonstrates that our collaborative efforts to prevent, identify and prosecute the most egregious instances of health care fraud have never been stronger," Attorney General Eric Holder said. "Over the years, we've seen that as these crimes harm all of us — government agencies and programs, insurers and health care providers, and individual patients."
Officials attributed much of the progress to nine patrol teams that moved into cities, such as Chicago and Miami, to investigate crime trends. The government increased funding to Senior Medicare Patrol teams from $9 million in 2010 to $18 million in 2011 in the form of Administration on Aging grants in fraud-rich states, such as California and Michigan. The 2010 federal health care law also increased funding to fraud-fighting efforts by $350 million.
The Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Teams, known as HEAT, sent 175 people to prison, where the average sentence was 47 months, according to the Justice Department.
<more>
= new reply since forum marked as read
reducing access or benefits. Big and ongoing kudos to them.
I we want Medicare to be the model on which we build single-payer, universal health care, then it needs to be cleaned and tightened up.
Those that take the position that nothing should change about medicare are way too dogmatic in their approach. A lot needs to change, and the speed with which the problems are being addressed is remarkable.
Big cheers for Obama, Sebelius, (the recently departed but much admired by me) Berwick and all of their teams.
95 per hour in 2010..
Yes, the war on medical fraud continues.
"The U.S. Justice Department on Friday filed a lawsuit against The Scooter Store Inc. alleging the power-wheelchair distributor bilked Medicare.
The lawsuit claims The Scooter Store engaged in a nationwide practice of making misrepresentations to Medicare beneficiaries and their doctors about obtaining reimbursements from the government for power wheelchairs as opposed to less expensive scooters.
Specifically, lawyers for the government say the company was involved in a mass marketing campaign to sell equipment to Medicare patients. Attorneys say that once potential customers called the company's toll-free number, employees falsely told patients that Medicare would only pay for a more expensive power wheelchair.
As a result, Justice Department officials claim Medicare and Medicaid paid more for more expensive equipment than customers needed. Government attorneys do not have an exact dollar amount the government paid for fraudulent reimbursements. However, The Scooter Store has billed Medicare for claims worth more than $400 million since 1997, according to the lawsuit. "
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2005/04/25/daily39.html
Wonder what happened with that.....