Government
White House Medicare antifraud request
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 6, 2007
The Bush Administration is asking for an additional $183 million next fiscal year to combat fraud in Medicare. Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt appeared before the House Budget Committee July 17 to discuss the request. If Congress follows the recommendation, it would raise fiscal year 2008 spending on a joint HHS/Dept. of Justice anti-fraud program to $1.3 billion.
Leavitt said the extra money was needed, in part, to hunt down fraudulent activity that might occur in the Medicare prescription drug program. The joint effort also targets physician practices, but investigations involving doctors represent the minority of actions taken by the departments.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/08/06/gvbf0806.htm.
