The Department of Justice recovered more than $5.6 billion in total fraud in 2011, with more than $2.9 billion of it from healthcare fraud alone, according to a news release from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The $5.6 billion total is an increase of 167 percent compared to 2008. The large healthcare fraud recovery was due in part to “unprecedented cooperation” between the DOJ and the Dept. of Health and Human Services. With the Obama administration’s expansion of Medicare Fraud Strike Forces, it now takes months to bring healthcare fraud cases to resolution — not years.
As a next step in the administration’s aggressive campaign to slash Medicare fraud, HHS will direct all Medicare prescription drug plans to use every tool at their disposal to prevent fraud. It has provided guidance to prescription drug plans to withhold payment on suspicious claims, including those when enrollees have used multiple physicians to obtain painkillers and narcotics.
Related Articles on Healthcare Fraud:
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Catholic Healthcare West, Sutter Health Pay $2.3M to Settle Improper Billing Charges
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