Government
FBI hit over fraud investigation funds
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 13, 2005
The FBI cannot determine whether tens of millions of dollars designated for fighting health care fraud are being used for their intended purposes, a new report says.
The Government Accountability Office said the FBI does not have an adequate system for tracking the money, used to investigate improper uses of Medicare and Medicaid dollars. Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R, Iowa) requested the GAO report amid concerns that some of the funding, which totaled $114 million in 2003, has been shifted to counterterrorism activities.
"It violates federal law to reprogram the dollars specifically allocated by Congress for this purpose, and it's inexcusable that the government cannot account for millions of dollars set aside to fight health care fraud," Grassley said in a statement.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/06/13/gvbf0613.htm.
