Even as prosecutions rise, Medicare fraud often runs rampant

[n2doc]

BY CHRIS ADAMS

WASHINGTON — Despite some recent successes in combating fraud, Miami continues to be ground zero in Medicare fraud, as criminals morph their schemes to stay ahead of the law, a key South Florida enforcement agent told a Senate panel Wednesday.

Brian Martens, assistant special agent in charge based in Miami for the government’s Medicare agency, said that fraud schemes quickly evolve – and that as enforcement efforts target certain ones, others pop up. They switch between different parts of the Medicare program, they move from area to area, and they often rely on the muscle of organized crime.

“The criminals committing these crimes are often dangerous and we regularly encounter stockpiles of weapons when we execute arrests and enforcement operations,” testified Martens, who works for the inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare. “These criminals are taking advantage of those most vulnerable in our society – the elderly and the disabled.”

Martens was speaking to the Senate Special Committee on Aging about federal efforts to combat Medicare fraud, which the committee said is estimated to cost taxpayers $60 billion to $90 billion each year. Common tactics: paying kickbacks to recruiters for finding patients and providing unnecessary services.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/03/26/4918276/even-as-prosecutions-rise-medicare.html

[Thinkingabout]

1. These groups is really hurting our Medicare system. I would think

The venders would be curtailed by the provider lists but I must be mistaken.