Government
Feds step up health care fraud actions
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 14, 2008
The U.S. Dept. of Justice reports that federal prosecutors opened 878 new criminal health care fraud investigations in fiscal 2007, compared with 836 in fiscal 2006. They filed charges in 434 cases in 2007, up from 355 a year earlier.
The government also launched the Medicare Fraud Strike Force last May to target criminal and civil billing fraud.
On the civil side, the Justice Dept. in 2007 launched 776 new investigations and recouped $1.8 billion in judgments and settlements for a range of cases involving false claims and anti-kickback violations against physicians, hospitals, durable equipment suppliers, and pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. New cases were down from 915 in 2006. Recoveries that year stood at $2.2 billion.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/07/14/gvbf0714.htm.
