Medicare Fraud

Every year, we lose billions of dollars to fraud in federal and state health care programs. Every dollar we lose to fraud and abuse is a dollar that is not available to provide home care to seniors, to treat HIV and AIDS, to immunize children, and to discover new treatments for cancer and other diseases. Some fraud schemes even pose a direct threat to the health and safety of patients. Many instances of health care fraud sug­gest that existing control systems do not work the way we imagine they should. Often the manner in which schemes are revealed suggests detection is more luck than system. Whistleblower lawsuits have exposed billing by health care providers for services not rendered, billing for products not delivered, misrepresenting services, unbundling services, billing for medically unnecessary services, duplicate billing, increasing units of service which are subject to a payment rate, falsifying cost reports resulting in increased payment to the health care provider, kickbacks, and on and on. Healthcare fraud is still going strong and this blog is intended to keep readers up to date with all healthcare fraud related news and to provide commentary when warranted. This blog also contains an array of laws and regulations concerning healthcare fraud set out in an easy to read format.

Congressman Fattah Issues Statement Supporting DOJ Fraud Recoveries

by Nolan and Auerbach on December 20, 2011

Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) issued a statement today, as the “top Democratic appropriator” for the Department of Justice:

“The Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder’s leadership just announced that it has recovered a three-year record of nearly $9 billion for fraudulent claims against the government. A huge amount of that recovery is for healthcare and Medicare fraud. Justice is going after the drug companies, phony equipment purveyors and all those who prey on the sick and the elderly while stealing from the government that insures them ….. [o]n the House Appropriations Committee we are committed to providing Justice and other federal departments involved in this critical recovery effort with the resources they need to fight for the taxpayers against the fraudsters.”

We believe that nearly all of the $9 billion recovery no doubt originated with Medicare fraud qui tam whistleblowers. We applaud the Congressman’s enthusiasm and support of funding for anti-fraud efforts within the Department of Justice and its supporting law enforcement agencies. Funding for anti-fraud efforts has resulted in over ten times the return to the Government, according to past Taxpayers Against Fraud Reports.

For more information about qui tam law and Medicare fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, P.A.

 

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