Stop Medicare Fraud

Today, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services re-launched StopMedicareFraud.gov. StopMedicareFraud.gov provides information about Medicare Fraud and information on how you can protect yourself from fraud or abuse. It provides ways for victims to report fraud and abuse. It also allows individuals with first-hand knowledge of wasteful spending or criminal activity to report it to the proper authorities.  Widespread health care fraud has caused health care costs for Americans to skyrocket. That’s why HEAT - Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team - is hard at work to root out fraud and save us money.  Officials at the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services use state-of-the-art technology to prevent waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and to crack down on fraudulent schemes that cost tax payers billions of dollars.  Stopmedicarefraud.gov is an extension of HEAT. HEAT is currently hard at work in South Florida, Houston, Detroit and Los Angeles.  In 2008, the multi-agency enforcement groups known as Medicare Fraud Strike Forces secured 588 criminal convictions; obtained 337 civil administrative actions against individuals and organizations who were committing Medicare fraud, and recovered more than a $1 billion in health care fraud monies under the False Claims Act.  To date, in fiscal year 2009, The Department of Justice has already recovered nearly a billion dollars in health care fraud monies and recorded 300 convictions.   We expect more success to come.  President Obama’s 2010 budget for Health and Human Services contains funding for anti-fraud efforts over five years. It invests $311 million to strengthen program integrity in Medicare and Medicaid, with particular emphasis on greater oversight of Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug programs. We estimate $2.7 billion could be saved by improving oversight, and stopping fraud and abuse within the Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug programs.  For more information visit about health care fraud and how you can help, visit StopMedicareFraud.gov