Wednesday
May202009
Days Of Medicare Fraud Are Over
By Michael Combier - Talk Radio News Service
Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the formation of a new interagency effort, the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), to fight against Medicare and Medicaid fraud around the country. Holder and Sebelius also announced this afternoon the expansion of the Strike Force Team to Detroit and Houston. This Strike Team was already operating in South Florida and Los Angeles to fight Medicare fraud on a local level.
“This is part of the administration’s ongoing commitment to fiscal responsibility and accountability and putting the best minds and resources together to combat fraud and return much needing dollars into the United States’ Treasury”, said Attorney General Holder adding that when “individuals and corporations cross the line and defraud the public, we will hold them accountable.”
“The Obama administration and the American people will not stand by while criminals and health care fraud perpetrators steal from the Medicare and the Medicaid programs”, said Secretary Sebelius. “A Small but significant number of criminals and bad operators are cheating the system and costing taxpayers billions of dollars.”
Senior officials from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and HHS will integrate the HEAT team to strengthen the existing programs fighting against fraud. HEAT will not only go against unlawful practices but will also prevent fraud, waste and abuse from happening the first place. The new program will be helped by a joint DOJ-HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams which have successfully fought against fraud perpetrators in South Florida and Los Angeles. In the former, the Strike Force convicted 146 defendants and succeeding in securing $186 million while in the latter, started in May 2008, 37 individuals have been charged with criminal health care fraud offenses resulting in $55 million being restored to the Medicare program.
The Attorney General and the HHS Secretary pointed out that HEAT will work with Congress to work on legislation making it more difficult for fraud perpetrators to use the taxpayers money. The American taxpayers are called upon by Sebelius “to blow the whistle on thieves and criminals who are stealing from all of us.”
Attorney General Eric Holder and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the formation of a new interagency effort, the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), to fight against Medicare and Medicaid fraud around the country. Holder and Sebelius also announced this afternoon the expansion of the Strike Force Team to Detroit and Houston. This Strike Team was already operating in South Florida and Los Angeles to fight Medicare fraud on a local level.
“This is part of the administration’s ongoing commitment to fiscal responsibility and accountability and putting the best minds and resources together to combat fraud and return much needing dollars into the United States’ Treasury”, said Attorney General Holder adding that when “individuals and corporations cross the line and defraud the public, we will hold them accountable.”
“The Obama administration and the American people will not stand by while criminals and health care fraud perpetrators steal from the Medicare and the Medicaid programs”, said Secretary Sebelius. “A Small but significant number of criminals and bad operators are cheating the system and costing taxpayers billions of dollars.”
Senior officials from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and HHS will integrate the HEAT team to strengthen the existing programs fighting against fraud. HEAT will not only go against unlawful practices but will also prevent fraud, waste and abuse from happening the first place. The new program will be helped by a joint DOJ-HHS Medicare Fraud Strike Force teams which have successfully fought against fraud perpetrators in South Florida and Los Angeles. In the former, the Strike Force convicted 146 defendants and succeeding in securing $186 million while in the latter, started in May 2008, 37 individuals have been charged with criminal health care fraud offenses resulting in $55 million being restored to the Medicare program.
The Attorney General and the HHS Secretary pointed out that HEAT will work with Congress to work on legislation making it more difficult for fraud perpetrators to use the taxpayers money. The American taxpayers are called upon by Sebelius “to blow the whistle on thieves and criminals who are stealing from all of us.”
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Eric Holder, Kathleen Sebelius, fraud, medicaid, medicare in News/Commentary
Eric Holder, Kathleen Sebelius, fraud, medicaid, medicare in News/Commentary
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