Govt: Medicare paid $47 billion in suspect claims
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Hope Yen, Associated Press Writer – Sat Nov 14, 12:
11 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The government paid more than $47 billion in questionable Medicare claims
including medical treatment showing little relation to a patient's condition, wasting taxpayer
dollars at a rate nearly three times the previous year.
Excerpts of a new federal report, obtained by The Associated Press, show a dramatic increase
in improper payments in the $440 billion Medicare program that has been cited by government
auditors as a high risk for fraud and waste for 20 years.
It's not clear whether Medicare fraud is actually worsening. Much of the increase in the last
year is attributed to a change in the Health and Human Services Department's methodology
that imposes stricter documentation requirements and includes more improper payments —
part of a data-collection effort being ordered government-wide by President Barack Obama
next week to promote "honest budgeting" and accurate statistics.
Still, the fiscal 2009 financial report — covering the first few months of the Obama
administration — highlights the challenges ahead for a government that is seeking in part to
pay for its proposed health care overhaul by cracking down on Medicare fraud. While noting
that several new anti-fraud efforts were beginning, the government report makes clear that
"aggressive actions" to date aimed at reducing improper payments had yielded little
improvement.
In recent years, the suspect claims have included Medicare prescriptions from doctors who
were dead, and requests for payment for medical supplies such as blood glucose strips for
sexual impotence and diabetic shoes for leg amputees. Patients, many of them new citizens
who barely speak English, are sometimes recruited by brokers who go door-to-door offering
hundreds of dollars for use of their Medicare numbers.
Obama is expected to announce new initiatives next week to help crack down on Medicare
fraud, including a government-wide Web site aimed at providing a fuller account of health care
spending and improper payments made by various agencies. The Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services also will launch a Web interactive next month that will allow users to track
Medicare payment information by categories such as state, diagnosis and hospital.
According to the report, the Bush administration from 2005-2008 reported improper payments
of roughly 4 percent in the fee for service program, or about $17 billion total in 2008.
Government officials at the time, however, typically did not consider a Medicare payment
improper if the medical documentation was incomplete or a doctor's signature was illegible.
Since these were flaws that ordinarily bar payment, that methodology drew complaints from
government auditors that the figures were understated.
For fiscal year 2009, the Obama administration began counting those claims as improper, but
was unable to complete an official tally based on the new methodology. As a result, it officially
reported improper payments for its fee for service program at 7.8 percent, representing a
partial tally under the new formula. But it considers the unofficial tally of 12.4 percent to be
more representative.
Beginning next year, the 12.4 percent figure — or a total of $47 billion in improper payments
when counting both Medicare fee for service and managed care — will be used as the baseline
estimate. The federal report sets a target of reducing improper payments in the fee for service
program to 9.5 percent by next year, which would represent a savings of roughly $9.7 billion.
The findings come as the Obama administration is making Medicare anti-fraud efforts an
important priority. In recent months, HHS has said it was multiplying by 10 the number of agents
and prosecutors targeting fraud in Miami, Los Angeles and other strategic cities where tens of
billions of dollars are believed to be lost each year. The new partnership seeks to have better
sharing of real-time intelligence data on health care fraud patterns.
Officials say they also want to increase training and outreach among Medicare providers to
reduce documentation errors, while proposed health overhaul legislation would increase
background checks on Medicare claimants and impose stiffer penalties for false claims.
Other findings:
_In the Medicaid program for the poor, roughly $18.1 billion, or 9.6 percent of claims, are
believed to be improper payments.
_Using a baseline of 12.4 percent in improper payments in the Medicare fee for service
program, HHS is setting targets of reducing fraud and waste to 9.5 percent, 8.5 percent, and
8.0 percent, respectively, for fiscal years 2010 through 2012.
Records released earlier this week showed that CMS for three years ignored internal watchdog
warnings about swindlers stealing millions of dollars by scamming several Medicare programs.
The agency received roughly 30 warnings from inspectors but didn't respond to half of them,
even after repeated letters.
___
On the Net:
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Hope Yen, Associated Press Writer – Sat Nov 14, 12:
11 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The government paid more than $47 billion in questionable Medicare claims
including medical treatment showing little relation to a patient's condition, wasting taxpayer
dollars at a rate nearly three times the previous year.
Excerpts of a new federal report, obtained by The Associated Press, show a dramatic increase
in improper payments in the $440 billion Medicare program that has been cited by government
auditors as a high risk for fraud and waste for 20 years.
It's not clear whether Medicare fraud is actually worsening. Much of the increase in the last
year is attributed to a change in the Health and Human Services Department's methodology
that imposes stricter documentation requirements and includes more improper payments —
part of a data-collection effort being ordered government-wide by President Barack Obama
next week to promote "honest budgeting" and accurate statistics.
Still, the fiscal 2009 financial report — covering the first few months of the Obama
administration — highlights the challenges ahead for a government that is seeking in part to
pay for its proposed health care overhaul by cracking down on Medicare fraud. While noting
that several new anti-fraud efforts were beginning, the government report makes clear that
"aggressive actions" to date aimed at reducing improper payments had yielded little
improvement.
In recent years, the suspect claims have included Medicare prescriptions from doctors who
were dead, and requests for payment for medical supplies such as blood glucose strips for
sexual impotence and diabetic shoes for leg amputees. Patients, many of them new citizens
who barely speak English, are sometimes recruited by brokers who go door-to-door offering
hundreds of dollars for use of their Medicare numbers.
Obama is expected to announce new initiatives next week to help crack down on Medicare
fraud, including a government-wide Web site aimed at providing a fuller account of health care
spending and improper payments made by various agencies. The Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services also will launch a Web interactive next month that will allow users to track
Medicare payment information by categories such as state, diagnosis and hospital.
According to the report, the Bush administration from 2005-2008 reported improper payments
of roughly 4 percent in the fee for service program, or about $17 billion total in 2008.
Government officials at the time, however, typically did not consider a Medicare payment
improper if the medical documentation was incomplete or a doctor's signature was illegible.
Since these were flaws that ordinarily bar payment, that methodology drew complaints from
government auditors that the figures were understated.
For fiscal year 2009, the Obama administration began counting those claims as improper, but
was unable to complete an official tally based on the new methodology. As a result, it officially
reported improper payments for its fee for service program at 7.8 percent, representing a
partial tally under the new formula. But it considers the unofficial tally of 12.4 percent to be
more representative.
Beginning next year, the 12.4 percent figure — or a total of $47 billion in improper payments
when counting both Medicare fee for service and managed care — will be used as the baseline
estimate. The federal report sets a target of reducing improper payments in the fee for service
program to 9.5 percent by next year, which would represent a savings of roughly $9.7 billion.
The findings come as the Obama administration is making Medicare anti-fraud efforts an
important priority. In recent months, HHS has said it was multiplying by 10 the number of agents
and prosecutors targeting fraud in Miami, Los Angeles and other strategic cities where tens of
billions of dollars are believed to be lost each year. The new partnership seeks to have better
sharing of real-time intelligence data on health care fraud patterns.
Officials say they also want to increase training and outreach among Medicare providers to
reduce documentation errors, while proposed health overhaul legislation would increase
background checks on Medicare claimants and impose stiffer penalties for false claims.
Other findings:
_In the Medicaid program for the poor, roughly $18.1 billion, or 9.6 percent of claims, are
believed to be improper payments.
_Using a baseline of 12.4 percent in improper payments in the Medicare fee for service
program, HHS is setting targets of reducing fraud and waste to 9.5 percent, 8.5 percent, and
8.0 percent, respectively, for fiscal years 2010 through 2012.
Records released earlier this week showed that CMS for three years ignored internal watchdog
warnings about swindlers stealing millions of dollars by scamming several Medicare programs.
The agency received roughly 30 warnings from inspectors but didn't respond to half of them,
even after repeated letters.
___
On the Net:
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