Crackdown on Fraud and Abuse in Detroit, Miami Signals Health Care Reform as a Priority of the Obama Administration
Filed under: Fraud & Abuse, Medicare & Medicaid, Obama Administration
Photo by bixentro via Flickr
Federal agents arrested dozens of people in Miami and Detroit yesterday morning for allegedly submitting Medicare claims totaling $50 million for treatments that were unneeded and sometimes never provided, according to The Washington Post.
Later in the day, the Justice Department unsealed criminal indictments against 53 people in connection with the arrests. In Detroit, the indictments focus on costly HIV/AIDS infusion drugs as well as physical and occupational therapy treatments.
According to The Post,
Authorities filed criminal charges against patients, doctors, medical assistants and company owners who allegedly played complicit roles in the fraud schemes. Prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of the criminal proceeds and restitution to the Medicare program.
The action was announced at a news conference held by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius, and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.
We will strike back against those whose fraudulent schemes not only undermine a program upon which 45 million aged and disabled Americans depend, but which also contribute directly to rising health-care costs,
said Attorney General Holder.
Posts from Health Reform Watch have been cited by media sources throughout the country, including The New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Kaiser Health News, The Health Care Blog, NPR's Planet Money Blog, Duke Univ. Med. Center News, American Health Line Alerts, BusinessWeek.com, Concurring Opinions, Balkinization, The New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, Las Vegas Sun, Maggie Mahar, Ezra Klein, Tom Geoghegan, and the official homepage of the Office of the Democratic Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer.
