In fiscal year 2017, HHS and the Department of Justice recovered $2.6 billion from judgments, settlements and additional impositions in healthcare fraud cases and proceedings.
Here are five things to know.
1. The recoveries were attributable partially to the work of the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control program, which is designed to coordinate federal, state and local law enforcement activities to combat healthcare fraud.
2. In fiscal year 2017, the DOJ opened 967 new criminal healthcare fraud investigations, and federal prosecutors filed criminal charges in 439 cases involving 720 defendants.
3. A total of 639 defendants were convicted of healthcare fraud-related crimes in fiscal year 2017.
4. The DOJ opened 948 new civil healthcare fraud investigations in fiscal year 2017 and had 1,086 civil healthcare fraud matters pending at the end of the fiscal year.
5. For every dollar the federal government spent on healthcare fraud investigations in the last three years, the government recovered $4.
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