Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Efforts Result in Record-Breaking Recoveries Totaling Nearly $4.1 Billion

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General Eric Holder released a new report showing that the government's health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts recovered nearly $4.1 billion in taxpayers monies in the 2011 year.  These monies were recovered from individuals and companies who tried to defraud seniors and taxpayers who were trying to get payments that they were not entitled.

President Obama has made elimination of fraud, waste, and abuse one of his top priorities while he is in administration.  The Department of Justice and Health and Human Services are being very aggressive towards preventing health care fraud, with the main goal being to protect the taxpayer’s money and strengthening our health care programs.  About $4.1 billion improperly taken or stolen from federal health care programs have been recovered and given back to the Medicare Trust Funds and to the Treasury in 2011, to just name a few.  The fight to protect health care fraud and abuse have been a huge achievement in for the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC).

The HHS and the Department of Justice have coordinated through the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) to form an outreach program to educate Medicare beneficiaries and seniors about the importance of learning how to prevent fraud and scams.  Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against 1,430 defendants for healthcare fraud, this being the highest number in department history within any one year, of which 734 were convicted.  This was the second consecutive year that more than $2.4 billion have been recovered in health care matters, using the False Claims Act (FCA) to date they have been able to recover $6.6 billion in federal health care monies.

Prevention and recollection of overpayment has been one of the focuses of the Obama Administration and are just the latest steps in a series of steps that the administration is doing to help the American people to keep their monies where it is most needed, in their pockets.